Kunoichi Missions
by NekoXyN
Summary: The second installment of Within Three Years, Yukari Uzaruki is well into a mission that would make her a chuunin. Her enemies aren't content to sit back and let that happen. Wheel Ninja to the Rescue!
1. Scroll 1

_**Scroll 1, Insanity:**_

Then, suddenly, as Yukari left, a pink-haired girl wearing a kimono entered the dark glade that belonged to Konohagakure. She grinned to herself as she lifted her arms; bringing up the Zanpakutou that she always drug around behind her.

"Kenny! They all left, there's nobody to fight now."

"Damn it, I guess I was a bit too slow, eh, Yachiru?" the pointy-haired Shinigami lifted his own black-clad arm and said: "Mewtwo, return."

The purple and pale-white mutant cat turned around and growled in its throat as the red beam of energy was spit from the blasted, sickeningly purple and pink 'Master' ball.

"I thought for sure that black-haired girl had a Poochyena. Ken-chan!" the pink-haired Yachiru pouted. Mewtwo was going to fight Sheena's new puppy, Reena. Mewtwo reluctantly returned to its ungodly small home as the red beam, now containing its physical data, was sucked back up into the master ball.

"Stop right there and release that poor cat, or I shall punish you on behalf of the Moon!"

"Oh great, another brat wanting to fight. Well, ok then!" Kenpachi grinned viciously as the odango atama-headed girl stepped into the moonlight. "Go, Giratina. Show this blonde-brat what we are!"

The Negative-world pokemon shot out of its ball and roared thunderously as it entered. The land shook with might as Giratina stepped down onto the treed-ground; killing several of the rooted plants easily.

"Oh Shit, GO CLEFAIRY!" Sailor Moon ripped her own, pink Cherish Ball off her belted blue skirt and spun around in sparkles before kneeling on the ground and thrusting her right arm rigidly into the night sky.

The Clefairy, being half the size of Giratina's pinkie, exited the ball with even more glitter and glam, making a show of floating hearts and twinkling stars.

"Clefairy!"

"Clefairy, Go, Double-Slap." Sailor Moon barked her order.

"Giratina, just step forward please." Kenpachi folded his arms over his chest as Yachiru climbed up his back to get a better view of the action. The black and grey pkmn titan lifted its foot and stepped forward, and on the screaming Clefairy. The poor Clefairy was instantly defeated…and died.

"OH NO! I shall heal you with my Moon Stick!" Sailor Moon finished vomiting at the sight of Clefairy's gored body and spun around again.

"MOON TIARA – shit, wrong phrase – MOON HEALING ACTAVATION!"

Clefairy came back to life and fainted again. Sailor Moon recalled her pink moon fairy pkmn and threw another out:

"GO PALGIACEUS, the love child of Arceus, Palkia and Dialga!"

"Yay! A worthy Pkmn to battle my Ken-chan!" Yachiru cheered cheerfully from the male Shinigami's back.

"Palgiaceus, Use Hyper Beam!"

"Giratina, step on the love child, please." Zaraki-taichou sighed boredly.

Giratina, being pissed to the max of not being including in the orgy of Arceus, lifted its attack stats to the top and let loose a beam of Darkness that was the opposite of Hyperbeam. The one and only Palgiaceus was instantly atomized.

"Darn, I lost again. I choose you, Ditto!" Sailor Moon was getting angry now, as she threw her third pkmn.

"Ditto…" The face of Ditto was plastered with the meaning of fear as the blue wad of pkmn looked upwards to the mile-high Giratina.

"Di...tto!"

"Giratina, use Stomp." Kenpachi, again, looked insanely bored while Yachiru cheered Sailor Moon on. The still-angry Giratina lifted its left foot this time and proceeded to step on Ditto.

"NYAH! My Ditto is a haxzothr, and is insanely strong!" Sailor Moon crowed in triumph as the Giratina lifted its foot and made a sound to show its disgust. Ditto was stuck to Giratina's foot like a wad of blue bubblegum.

"Oh come on, a shiny haxorh Ditto? What possible use can that be?" Kenpachi yawned; feinting his interest.

"Watch this! Ditto, use transform!"

Ditto was having trouble focusing as the Giratina was stomping repetitively on the ground, trying to get Ditto off of its foot.

"DITTO!" The blue Ditto gritted its non-existent teeth and transformed into Giratina.

"RRAOWOETERYRT!" Ditto transformed into Giratina!

"Ditto, use Shadow Ball!" Sailor Moon ordered. The Gira-Ditto opened its tiny mouth and gathered energy to defeat the real Giratina.

"Giratina, use Double Kick." Kenpachi-taichou ordered his pokemon. Yachiru hung off his shoulder and cheered more.

The real Giratina promptly turned around and gave a donkey's version of Double Kick. The last we ever saw of Ditto was a pink dot flying away through the sky.

"I lost again, darn it!" Sailor Moon took out her fourth ball from her left hair ball and looked very serious. "Out of 6 pokemon, I still have three left!"

"Well then, use your three remaining pokemon, you'll still lose." Kenpachi snorted in arrogance.

"Fine, I will; GO CHARIZARD!" the left-side of her blonde hair fell in her face as it was unwrapped. The flame-colored pkmn ball spiraled into the air as it released a black Charizard.

"Tch, don't tell me you hacked this one also, to get a shiny Charizard." Kenpachi looked sadly at the mis-matched hair blondie. "You are such a lozer."

"NO WAY, I've had my precious FLAMEROARERIPPER since I started my Pokemon journey!" Sailor Moon cried aloud. "Just for that, FLAMEROARERIPPER: USE SACRED FIRE!"

The Black Charizard used the most powerful Fire-attack in the history of Pkmn and it did nothing but went 'poof' against Giratina's knee – much like a bubble against human skin. Giratina howled in fury and it used Aura Sphere in retaliation. Charizard was reduced to a smoldering pile of ash.

"NO! FLAMEROARERIPPER! How could you!" Sailor Moon wept; her tears restoring her dead Charizard. "FLAMEROARERIPPER, return!

"You have two more pokemon left, little girl." Kenpachi grinned victoriously. "I'm still on my second. Call out your fifth monster and let's get this over with."

Sailor Moon reached to her white belt that was worn with her blue-trademarked skirt. Instead of calling her fifth pokemon, her black cat Luna, jumped onto Sailor Moon's shoulder and gave stern advice:

"Sailor Moon! You must use your best pokemon to defeat this enemy!"

"My Best Pokemon, you mean YOU! GO, I chose you, Luna!"

"RRAAAEEEOOOWW!" Luna screamed in fear as she landed on Giratina's face.

"YOUR CAT IS NOT A POKEMON!" Yachiru screamed from her tree-limb seat. The pink-haired girl had jumped off Kenpachi's shoulder and into the tree, sitting on a limb. "CHEATER! You shouldn't cheat against Kenny-chan."

"Oh fine, Luna, return!" Sailor Moon sighed sadly and the poor cat had to be peeled off Giratina's face.

"FUCK YOU, Sailor Moon!" Was all Luna said as she promptly ran away to be with Artemis and Meko; both of whom were in the trees, watching the pokemon battle unfold.

"Darn it, stupid cat…fine then, I send my fifth pokemon; Go Dugtrio!" Sailor Moon threw an ultra-ball and the three-headed…thing…popped out. Having only three brown, round heads; the mystery of the rest of Dugtrio's body remained underground.

"Dug-trio…trio…trio…" It said and popped in and out of the ground like a 'Whack-a-Mole' mole.

"Giratina! Go, use Origin forme!" Kenpachi shouted as the sun rose through the trees. The Giratina roared its fury and shifted into its worm-like forme it used to fly gaily around in its Negative World. It now had the effect Levitate, which meant no Ground-type moves affected it.

"Oh gosh-darn, Dugtrio, use Tri-Attack!" Sailor Moon dramatically pointed at the floating Giratina.

"TRIO! TRIO! TRIO!" the half-foot tall pkmn cranked its head back as far as it could and let fly a three-colored Tri-Attack. The attack cut Giratina's knee; like a kid falling on a sidewalk and scraping its knee kind of cut.

Giratina roared again its anger as it used Stomp to take out Dugtrio. The Negative Pkmn failed epically. Dugtrio kept retreating to its underground lair; only to pop back up again elsewhere.

"Dug-trio…trio…trio…" It said and popped in and out of the ground like a 'Whack-a-Trio' game. Kenpachi and Yachiru watched in annoyance as the Dugtrio made an ass out of Giratina.

"Giratina. Use Earthquake." Kenpachi muttered. Giratina used the move and Sailor Moon wept for a Dugtrio that was never seen again; its body in too small of pieces to find and put back together again.

"One last victory, Yachiru, and then we'll head home." Kenpachi casually looked over to the trees as the sun illuminated the branches.

"YAY, Ken-chan is going to win again!" Yachiru stopped picking her nose to cheer.

"Not if my friend's pokemon has anything to say about it!" Sailor Moon undid her right pony-tail ball and removed her sixth and final pokemon. Standing there with her beautiful blonde hair pooled around her red-booted feet, Sailor Moon gazed lovingly at the Ultra-ball. "This mighty force belongs to my dear friend, Senshi XiN. Go Absol!"

In a flurry of black, white and silver confetti did Absol, lvl 86, exited his custom-painted pkmn-ball. Without any fancy entrance moves or spins or rolls did Absol the Grand stood there on the ground; using the rising sun to silhouette his majestic outline. With the sun at his back, Absol puffed out his chest and glared solemnly at the huge Giratina.

"Absooooll… - I will defeat you with ease. –" The Absol stated plainly.

"Giiirati-nani… - We shall see about that, Little Absoru… -" The proud Giratina growled back.


	2. Scroll 2

_**Scroll 2, Missing Nin**_

A single, crimson eye watched the blonde-haired kid – most probably aged 14 – enter the busy village streets next to the old, white-haired sannin known as Jiraiya-sama. Seeing two ninjas that hailed from the same village as her own was certainly shocking enough; but knowing that these two particular shinobi were out and about nearly stopped her heart from beating.

Shifting her lithe, long body around to gain a better view, she sharply watched as the pair of shinobi stop to look down at their map. Being lost in a small, yet busy village hidden deep within the Snow Country was not exactly the place to be. The eldest daughter of her father decided to finish her lame excuse for coffee and investigate just why one of the legendary sannin was here; and dragging along a brat-kid.

However, it was the animal next to her that interrupted her train of thought. A husky aged-beyond-prime ninken lifted his grizzled head and turned his scarred muzzle up towards her.

"I smell a pervert and a Bijuu, Rai-sama." The dog rasped out.

"Yea, I know." She replied as her uncovered eye tracked the pair into the main village tavern.

"I don't think they are here for you, Rai-sama." The dog turned his head towards the two Shinobi as they vanished into the building. "Otherwise they would have come with more force."

"Honta-chan, think about it: one of the legendary sannin walks into the village, toting the Nine-tailed brat?" Rai snorted as she pulled up the tan hood of her winter coat. "Why else would they be here instead of warm Konohagakure?"

She had long since given up hope of ever returning home to Konohagakure. Since that fateful, ugly day eight years ago; she had lost everything she had when her fiancée forced her to become a missing Nin in order to save her clan. It was too close a call in escaping; and she still had the wounds that the traitorous Uchiha had given her.

As it stood now, the kunoichi barely had the traits needed that once made her elite among the ANBU Bird-Squad. The bastard of her fiancée had thrown a paper bomb at her face; and the roll of the dice of ill-fated luck, she had no way of countering or evading the thing. The paper bomb not only had a split-second fuse, but a hidden sealing jutsu. Since then, the use of her visual kekkai genkai could only be used in her left eye – and only on those days of which she could muster enough will-power to force through the residual seal-jutsu that lay over her right eye.

That was just for using her doujutsu. Raikanami Uzaruki had fled to this remote Snow village in hopes of evading Itachi Uchiha. Not that he'd really come after her to kill her; she had his promise of her life as long as she stayed out of the Fire-Nation. She had not seen her fiancée since the day she fled her village. It hurt to not be with the one you loved.

Stuffing her payment in the still damp coffee mug; Raikanami stood up to stretch her muscles and warm them up against the warmer-chill air of the village's summer air. Covering her right side –her main weakness was her bandaged right-eye – Honta grunted as he followed his mistress into the village's main center.

The once jet-black dog was a gift from her once closet friend, Hana Inuzuka. He had been with the Uzaruki woman since he was a year old; and was honored enough to serve outside the Dog-Nin clan. Now his salt & coal speckled fur was sign enough that he was too old to be included in active battle – not that he had seen active battle for seven years now.

Following his mistress into this no-name backwater Snow village years ago; he had helped her and her eagles take down a rogue, self-appointed ninja leader. Since then, however, he had taken it easy. The canine followed her into the village's tavern, twelve steps behind the two ninjas from Konoha.

"What are you planning to do, Rai-san?" Honta chuckled to himself as they chose a spot in the corner next to the tavern's roaring fire. The years living in the cold village had been unkind to Honta; if the creaking and groaning of his bones gave any indication.

"Eavesdrop to see what that old pervert is doing here." She answered in a whisper. Pulling her head deeper into her hood, Raikanami leaned back and waved the bar-maid away.

Since she and Honta had ended up in this village; she had been left in relative peace. Peace enough that a village hero could take. Raikanami had fought and killed the village idiot – a ninja that had put himself as the local leader. A leader that was not only cruel and cold-hearted; but sadistic as well. Raikanami, being the ninja-trained kunoichi she was, had taken the villagers' offer and defeated the fake daimyo.

Since then, the villagers had – and still do – treated her like a hero. Raikanami had employed herself to protect the now-growing village and its inhabitants. She had even gone as far as established her own training school to teach villagers into a force that could defend themselves.

Now that the old pervert sannin was nosing around, it was most likely a cover to spy on her and take her down. Raikanami would be an idiot if she were to let an old pervert like Jiraiya ruin her mild life.

XXX

"Look, kid; we'll take a day or two to see of that earth master is in this village before moving on, ok?" The white-haired sannin growled out to his young, blonde student. "I mean, the rumors are pretty strong that she resides here."

"SEE! I knew we were here for the women, Ero-sensei." Naruto scowled up at the old male ninja that had dragged him into the small, remote Snow country village based on several strong rumors that a jounin-class earth-style jutsu master was in the area. However, since their discussion on which type of element would be best suited to use against Sasuke's fire-style jutsu, they had agreed on searching for earth-style jutsus. It was their plan to train in jutsu element that would ace over the Uchiha fire-style.

"This is so stupid, Ero-sannin, why are we going to waste even an hour here in this tiny village!" The stripe-cheeked boy was building fire to his fuming. "The chance that we are going to find a ninja in this place is nil!"

The blue-eyed sannin turned away from placing his order with the bar tender and focused on Naruto only for a second before letting his gaze free at the six or so patrons in the rather small tavern room. "Look, if there is even a remote chance of catching an earth-style master here; then we could be steps ahead of ourselves."

The bartender pointed them towards an empty table before busying himself with preparing Jiraiya's drink order.

"Besides, we've been on the road for a solid week, Naruto. I'd say you deserve a rest!" The old pervert walked over to an empty table; just now noticing the hood-covered head placed within the shadows. The person's body stance had habits enough to remind him of the shinobi upbringing – the way they had the hood covering their head, the fact they sat in an out-of-the-way corner and last but not least; the grizzled old dog that sat at the person's feet. "Tell, you what, you go post this on that huge board outside and go find us a hotel room for the night."

Naruto stared at his sensei with hard eyes; watching the old man scribble out a message on a scroll. This was just another lame attempt of Jiraiya's fostered upon him to get Naruto out of the way. Naruto, sadly enough, had no decent excuse to give to wiggle out of the chore.

"Man, why do I also get stuck with the stupid pointless chores." Naruto grumbled as he took the note and trudged out the door into the chill air.

Jiraiya, smiling to himself as the bar maid gave him his sake, stood up and lumbered over to the person near the fireplace.

"It's warm in here with a coat, I would say." The sannin had that instinct that this ninja-like person was a female. As to why she had her features hidden was something that tugged at his curiosity. "Why don't you take off that coat, miss, and I'll order us some sake to warm us up!"

XXX

_Great, just superb. The old pervert has decided to nestle up to me for some female companionship._ Rai had only two options: reveal herself to the old sannin, or put up a genjutsu and roll with the flow. Honta was pinned against the wall due to the position the old Toad-master had placed himself in. The old pervert was too well positioned for it to be called a random sitting. The dog could only look at her and whine. It has a given, unspoken word between them that they remained in their act for as long as possible. But when Jiraiya had ambled up to her, that act was cut very, very short: she was not in the mood to cast a Genjutsu and pretend to remotely enjoy the sannin's company. So that left one option: to cut to the chase and kick him out.

"Well, why are you so far from home, hm…Jiraiya-sama?" Her voice came soft in volume, but deadly in annoyance.

"WHAT!" The old man flinched back in astonishment. Raikanami used this opening to pull her hands together and create a lightning fast series of hand-signs to open her chakra paths for her jutsu.

XXX

Naruto had tacked the note onto the shoddy notice board that was old, stinky and rotted. The rot and smell were most likely products from the wet, chilly air that pervaded this backwater village. If Jiraiya was ever going to help him complete his training, then stopping in remote villages like this wasn't going to help.

Naruto had been away from home for a year now and missed his friends terribly: Sakura, Yukari, Kakashi, Iruka and the rest. He wondered what they would be doing when the earth trembled slightly and Jiraiya went flying out of the tavern with a stream of mud trailing near his stomach.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto called out as he ran over to his fallen sensei-master. "What happened!"

Jiraiya was in the process of rubbing his jaw as he sat up. "Well, kid, I think we found our earth-master…" the white-haired man nodded his jaw towards the tavern's opening.

The black and white-furred dog that Naruto had glanced at in the tavern growled as it leapt out of the broken door.

"THAT is our earth master!" Naruto gaped in stunned thought. "A dog!"

"No, Honta-chan is not your earth-master, kid, I am!" A feminine voice flowed into his left ear as the ground underneath his feet opened up. Naruto jumped back, immediately forming a defensive position, his hands occupied with kunai. However, when he saw who came out of the ground; his reaction surprised even the attacker.

"Yukari-chan!" the blonde pointed in confusion.

"Who?" Jiraiya asked.

"My sister!" the woman blinked.

"Your sister?" Naruto yelled, confused.

"Raikanami!" Jiraiya finally recognized the voice as he drew Naruto back behind him as he began perform a jutsu. "Get back kid; she's a missing Nin from Konoha!"

"Say what?" Naruto cried out, trying to push the strong arm of the sannin away.

"Oh, isn't this a riot." The dog growled, as he lowered himself to the ground to pounce. "Some runt kid ruins our cover, Rai-sama. I'll make sure he doesn't live to tell about it!" Honta pounced.

"HARI JUTSU!" Jiraiya shouted and turned his white hair into a thick blanket of spiny needles; like a porcupine. The sannin leaned left to intercept the in-air dog.

"Honta! NO!" The older looking Yukari cried out as she too, leapt forward as Jiraiya moved.

"Ero-sennin! Yukari-lady, wait!" Naruto's troubled voice entered the fray.

"Doton Doryuuheki!" The red-eyed lady shouted. The woman slammed her foot into the ground and the action brought up a huge wall of brown, muddy earth to separate his sensei and the leaping dog. The speed that the Yukari-lady had brought up the dirt-wall had impressed Naruto enough that he stood up and interjected his voice.

"STOP THIS!" His voice caught both the attention of Jiraiya and the Yukari-lady. "We aren't here to fight; we're here to find an Earth-master."

XXX

The blonde-brat had guts, trying to stop a fight between two jounin level ninjas. Not that she was going to continue to fight after the boy had piqued her curiosity by calling her by her sister's name. She still had to intervene for Honta's sake – the pervert was going to impale her companion. She watched with mild disinterest as the mud wall lost its form and slopped back into the muddy pile it had grown from. Honta was shaking dirt and mud off his coat as he retreated to her side.

"Alright, blondie, I'll halt my attacks if you explain why you and the pervert sage are in this village."

The cheeky kid glared at her before going over to mutter something to the grey-haired toad-sage that was releasing the jutsu on his hair.

"Are you ok, Ero-sannin?" Naruto still held his eyes on her as he checked on his sensei.

"Look, kid, I'm waiting for an answer." She clucked as Jiraiya's hair lost its spiky form and returned to normal.

"Just why did you attack Ero-sannin?" The blonde-boy accused her. "I know he's into women and stuff, but that's no reason to fight him."

"Kid, I attacked because he's a threat to my life here." Raikanami sighed tiredly and sat down on the disrupted mud. "Heck, why do I even care, I've been so tired lately."

"What's your name, lady?" Naruto relaxed slightly as she sat down.

"My name? I am Raikanami Uzaruki."

"UZARUKI! Same as Yukari-chan!" Naruto was surprised now. Here he was standing in the middle of nowhere and faced off against his friend's older sister – of whom he did not know existed. "Are you related to Yukari Uzaruki!" He dumbly asked.

_The kid isn't the brightest ninja in the pack…_ Rai thought to herself as she watched Jiraiya glare sharply at her. "Yea, the same as Yukari-chan, just how in the name of the seven kami do you know that name? Is she alive?"

"Raikanami-sama, if you would allow us the chance to explain things…" The old sannin finally spoke up; placing his hands on his knees as he lifted himself off the ground.

"Tch, you shut up, Ero-sama." Raikanami's name for Jiraiya sent the blonde-haired kid into a giggling fit. "I'll only talk to the kid; I don't trust you to keep your hands to yourself, Ero-sama."

"I'll only talk to you if you promise to teach me that cool Dirt Wall, lady." Naruto stopped laughing and pointed to Raikanami.

"Deal."

"Alright!"


	3. Scroll 3

_**Scroll 3, Sand Problems**_

Yukari stood, trembling, in absolute rage. Usagi-san had thrown sand into her clothes pack once again. Her cousin was not only testing the limits of her vowed, civil patience that the Wheel Nin Barokendo had force out of her; but wearing on Barokendo's immeasurably short patience as well. Now, Yukari had sand in her underwear and the canyon-ed entrance of Sunagakure was on the horizon.

"Kakashi-chan; I can't take it anymore." Yukari hissed out through gritted teeth. "I have sand crawling up my torso and down my legs."

Having spent the past two days on vivid movement; her legs felt like noodles. Jumping through the five-story tall trees of Konoha was something she could easily do; but when it came to trekking through ever-shifting sand – it used a whole different set of muscles. Her lower calves screamed in protest; her toes nearly rubbed raw from sand and her hair gritty with wind-blown particles. But that wasn't what she was complaining about. It was the fact that her cousin was purposely needled her all the way to Sunagakure's front door.

"Eh, Yukari-chan, we're almost there." Kakashi smiled only at her. It had been a trying trip for all of them; escorting Konoha ninjas and their Wheel-Nin clients.

Usagi had been a brat towards his Yukari-chan and it showed that both girls were mean as can be. Yukari, however, had taken the high road after the first six pranks she pulled on Usagi to pay her back. Now the genin/chuunin Uzaruki was giddy and anxious to get into Sunagakure and most likely take a shower. He needed one too, since stepping into the sandy Wind Country. Not that Kakashi minded the sand; he had been here previously.

"Oy, Kakashi, I'll bet ten sake cups that Usagi will make Yukari-chan snap once we get a Sand escort." The Takimoto clanswoman walked up next to him as the large group had voted unanimously to walk the rest of the way. Since the jutting rock formation was on the horizon ahead, they opted that they could stop their chakra-induced running and take it easy. It was a good decision too, since the mid-day sun beat down on them like hammer-wielding jounins.

"I'm not betting anything on the Uzarukis, Hani-san." Kakashi lowered the pale orange covered book that he had his nose in. "Yukari-chan has a Will of Fire that is unpredictable, like Naruto. Although I've never figured out just how she forged it. She never faced Naruto in an all-out battle."

"Aye, I see." The almost boringly-cloth-cut medical nin turned her green eyes towards the Uzaruki cousin that was walking along side her romantic interest, as large giant of a man known as Barokendo.

Having met the black-cloth clad ninja from a traveling group of ninjas calling themselves the Wheel Nin, Hani Takimoto had first met him when she was called on to heal Yukari Uzaruki's broken nose. That broken nose was a result of mouthing off to a bigoted group of Akadou; all of whom were from one of twenty-five major clans within Konoha.

Yukari had taken a hit to the face, and the action had sat terribly with the three children that the Akashingan-user was with. Those same three kids were now in the group that she, Kakashi Hatake, Yukari Uzaruki, Usagi Uzaruki and another, unknown ROOT agent were escorting. Having been called upon to assist the requested mission, Hani had slowly uncovered the story of how the Wheel Nin; and the three children, had come to be in Konoha.

The trio of children had wandered in; caused trouble and had been apprehended for that night by ANBU. The following day revealed that the rest of the Wheel Nin – ninjas that were all specialized in the Art of the Wheel – came sniffing along; laying claim on the young ninjas. A cook, gambler, Suna Kunoichi, four unicyclists, a titanic-sized brother and two misshaped others had been granted Konoha reprieve. Their enemies, however, came following as well; attacking the West Gate and striking fear into the general population.

It was the Wheel's enemies of now noted clans known as Darkness and Twisted that spurred a covert mission from the Hokage to hand-select a special team of ninja escorts to travel with the Wheel Ninja groups to alert Konoha allies; and to forge their own alliances with other, willing villages.

That was where they, the largest of the three Wheel Ninja groups, were headed now: Sunagakure. Hani only hopped the new young Kazekage, the demonic child of the previous Kazekage, wouldn't try to kill them all like he attempted during the Sand-Sound Invasion.

They all paused for a break; some of them taking instant opportunity to catch some sleep. Hani nor Kakashi opted for that, but stood around and talked.

Shozaku, however, was jolted awake by a large creature bumping to a stop at his side. He opened his eyes and sat up to see what looked like a reptilian armadillo, uncurled to reveal a large package and letter strapped to its stomach. He blinked, took the package, and watched as it rolled off a few feet, then down into the sand and out of sight. He opened the letter, read it, and started laughing.

"It looks like Skimi gave the dragon ninja the slip. Says here he needed to go do something about a family matter and he just up and left. He left her with directions to the Sand village though, so she should be coming sometime soon. This'll be interesting, might get lucky this time around." he said with a stretch and an irritated sigh.

The Gambler had struck out with Hani because she was interested in Baro. He didn't bother going for Yukari while the man she crushed on was right there, and for some reason Usagi had been oddly…cold in that nature. The Gambler teased the branch-clan woman, but only went that far. He'd had his hopes up; judging on Yukari's reaction to him back in Konoha village the evening they left; and they weren't high hopes. He couldn't wait to get into the sand village and find a brothel, almost hoping that the main business would be conducted at a later time so he could relax his nerves first.

Barokendo himself was standing a little apart from the group, next to Usagi, well aware of the Takimoto woman's gaze. He wasn't joking when he'd said that for a time, he wasn't going to let Usagi out of his sight. He'd granted her the illusion of privacy when she needed to go to the bathroom, but wherever she went, so did his eyes or his presence. He had always walked apart from others, far enough away so that none would notice an odd habit of his.

None, except Usagi if she listened closely enough. It seemed that when nobody else was around, Baro was always talking in whispers. But not to himself, almost as though he was having a conversation with someone, or thing, that wasn't there. It was also the only time he didn't have a constant look of anger on his face, that his body didn't seem like it was right on the edge of attack, if something so much as breathed funny. The giant man paused for a moment when he overheard Yukari's angry speech. He couldn't hear the content, but the tone was enough.

"Again, Usagi?" He asked with exasperation. Barokendo would make sure that if he ever again used a protection clause, he'd include a 'beat your ass if you piss me off' warning in case it was needed.

The three children were seen slightly ahead of the group, almost as if they were trying to gain enough distance to do a repeat performance of their last village entry: walking into the busy village alone; just the three of them. Only this time they had a new, four-footed companion, Reena.

If any were familiar with the Inuzuka clan, they'd know that the puppy was growing at an alarming rate, and also in ways that a canine, or most animals for that matter, shouldn't. It wasn't huge, but it did seem to be growing at about twice the rate a pup of its age should, and its fur had begun to shine more than normal, almost as if they were taking on another quality. Its teeth were a little more jagged as well as its nails. Yet stranger still, its features somehow seemed bright, almost cute.

If there was a Hyuuga in the area, they would see that anytime one of the three children was near the puppy, there was an almost constant chakra flow, though a small one, going into it; sometimes from all three. At the moment though, they were playing with the puppy happily, just bouncing around and wrestling in the sand.

Over the past few days though, the children had begun to get a worried look on their faces. They weren't sure what, or even why, but they felt like something was going to happen. They weren't sure if it was going to be bad so they didn't panic, but the feeling of change had them a little on edge. It was one of the reasons they stuck near Reena; she made them feel more at ease.

Yamira was next to Joma somewhere in the middle of this semi-scattered group, just talking animatedly about what she remembered of the Sand village. There were still some holes in her memory, but she was excited to be back. She hoped they would still have records of her, as it had been more than five years since she'd been home, because she wanted to see if she had family. Joma just nodded along, looking to the world like he wanted somebody to come over and save him. He was polite, but he didn't like small-talk. He was a man of actions; the kind that thought if what you said didn't have importance, it shouldn't be said.

Shozaku walked up to Yukari and Kakashi, the package still un-opened under his arms. "Since I'm going to be meeting with him sometime today or within the next week, tell me about the Kazekage."

Yukari, glaring daggers at Usagi as Usagi threw – using all her elite, sneaky ninja skills – a sand-ball at her cousin. Just how the older kunoichi managed to keep sand in ball-form was unknown; but it was well known that she had stopped to go pee minutes earlier.

"THAT DOES IT! I'm going to kick your ass, you little piss." Yukari's temper snapped as the liquid-loaded sand ball barely scuffed Yukari's cheek; brushing past the shortened raven-black hair.

Hani and Kakashi – most possibly for the millionth time since the mission began – exhaled tiredly as the genin heiress stepped towards the cousin; murder in her intent.

Thankfully – as it seemed that karma was paying Barokendo back – a squad of eight or nine Sand ninja blurred into view and gave a greeting bow. At the head of the ground was Kankuro, the older brother of the Kazekage. Wearing his black nin-attire, purple face-paint (Temari called it make-up) and carrying a huge, wrapped bundle on his back; the Puppet-Master grinned as he stood up.

"Well, if it isn't the…holy shit, I'm seeing two of you, Yukari-san." The purple-rimmed lips turned upside-down as Kankuro blinked at Usagi. "Ah, man, this gets better and better." Was said as the Puppeteer looked at Barokendo in awe.

"Greetings, Kankuro-sama. I am Hani Takimoto, medical ninja assigned to this mission." Hani Takimoto took the lead and brushed past Shozaku; giving a light pinch of his rear. Her gloved hands then came together and she bowed politely back. "I assume that the Hokage has sent message ahead of us explaining our mission?"

"Yes, we have received word of your arrival from the Hokage. The Kazekage is expecting you and has sent us to guide you to the village."

The other Suna ninja barely masked their curiosity at the Wheel Ninja; as well as a lost Suna kunoichi. The stories would fly like wind-blown sand tonight.

Usagi could hear Barokendo sigh, mutter the words. "I fucking knew it." Before speaking a little louder.

"Usagi, show me that scroll he gave you, but don't unroll it; no questions asked. Something's coming, there is little time, and I'm going to be leaving soon."

Yukari, Kakashi and Hani were busy giving formal greetings and slowly walking towards the rocky cropping far away. Usagi nodded as she untied the scroll that she hid under her back skirt flap. "Here." She smirked to herself as she got away with needling her money-idiot cousin. Turning to the cutie Kankuro, she walked next to Joma and Yamira, turning to Yamira and smiling brightly.

"Hi, it's great to be in the Sunagakure, isn't it?"

Further off, the two jounin had finally moved into action again as they were escorted to the Sunagakure entrance an hour away.

Reena was loving it in the sand; digging psychotically every few inches. This was funny to watch; as the only down side was when the fast-growing puppy discovered she would take a bite out of Gilligan's leg and produce a teddy-bear. The pup would proceed then to bury the hapless part of the girl-masquerading as boy.

Sand would make a small flurry around Usagi's feet, then form a small case and slide her back towards Barokendo. The scroll rolled down off a spike into Usagi's cleavage; only it was significantly different. Now it was incase in rock, with spike going into it – it looked like a rock-skinned sandwich wrap, with a spike as the toothpick that would be pinned through the middle.

"I didn't say I was done yet. I am now though…" the sand would slide her back, and Barokendo would stand up straight; which he hadn't done in his time at Konoha. His hunching habit was so much of his nature that most had seen so far that some just assumed it was how he was formed. As he stood up straight, a large bump appeared under his coat over his torso, and the spikes jutted out from the front of his coat now by a few feet. Standing tall, the scary man reached eight foot and six inches.

He started to laugh, a rather creepy sound that, to most, would be just that. This would be creepy, confusing and scary; given his usual nature so far. To Sheena, eyes growing wide, she grabbed her two friends and Reena with chains and got on the other side of everybody else, wanting to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.

"Oh Kami; not again. No, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO." she said, eventually screaming the words and crying. Wydra sensed the urgency and in a heartbeat, the three kids were on an enlarged unicycle. They had almost boosted off into the distance, but crashed into a rock wall that appeared out of nowhere.

Barokendo crackled his neck, and knelt momentarily. He spoke something in an incomprehensible language, and his coat flowed off of him as though of its own will, before he stood back up. What was revealed underneath gave way only to more questions, even as it partially revealed a method to his madness, and a reason to his rudeness.

As he had said to Meiko back in Konoha; he had spikes implanted all throughout his body. Not just small ones, large spikes as big and long as a small child was tall; conical tips that came down to a fine point, were shoved from one side of his body and out the other. There wasn't a pattern to it; the spikes looked to be shoved in haphazardly and had been done in haste and anger. There was even a spike shoved straight through where his heart should be.

All along the rest of his body it looked like there were scars; both the kind that had just healed over and ones from surgery. Burns, gashes, many other atrocities had marred his skin showed. Not alarming but rather mystifying, were the arms and hands that he had always kept hidden. It started out as a thin coating over his arms, but ended in a large cylindrical ball over his hands, was a strange kind of rock. It was black and shiny, almost reflective, and sparkled in some points.

The changed Barokendo kept laughing, smiling even, as he lifted up this formation of mineral over his upward limbs, held out his knee, and smashed out. It flew apart with two distinct sounds. The first was the screams of many; as though each and every person he'd killed had somehow been contained. The second sound was the sound of bells, as though something was trying to get a message across to anything that would listen.

After this, his true arms could be viewed. They were purple, and his muscles were sickeningly large and covered in surgical scars. His arms grew to sickening proportions the further up they got, until his hands were about five times the size they should have been – even for a man of his proportions. His fingers extended by an extra joint and his nails ending in jagged points. Barokendo turned around, facing away from everyone else as he'd distance himself from all, and shouted:

"LOOKS LIKE IT'S ASS WHOOP-O-CLOCK." He clapped his hands together, and the spikes all over his body lit up, forming a pattern as though forming with light the signs necessary to a jutsu while his hands were otherwise occupied.

Even though few, elite seconds had passed since he'd handed the scroll back to Usagi; Barokendo's actions seemed to drag into minutes. Given his unmatchable strength in earth-style jutsu, he would have to use it to sense approaching danger that others wouldn't have noticed until it was too late.

They could feel the ground around them shaking, and immediately beneath their feet there was what felt like an explosion, as though something with great force crashed against an immovable object. There was a series of loud cracks, the ground around the entire group aside from Baro himself seemed to be fissuring apart from the land it was set in, and a pair of giant rock hands would emerge from beneath the sand and grip the sides of it. As this happened, a large reptilian body rose from beneath the ground.

It was Manda, the snake that even Orochimaru hesitated to summon unless it was absolutely necessary. Riding atop his head was a strange ninja that none had previously seen - all but the Sand would know him. Across his head he wore a headband with the Twisted symbol, and the guitar he held, he was strumming like the greatest of practitioners.

The evil-exuding man's mouth was stretched wide as he roared out incomprehensible lyrics to his evil music – most similar to death metal. More alarmingly yet; a smug-looking James was sitting on the snake behind this new, terrifying man. All around them, spread throughout the ground, the guitar's sound was raising welts of terra-firma; signaling even more approaching objects.

The giant rock hands took an even more define shape, revealing themselves as monolithic versions of Barokendo's hands. The large chunk of rock and sand that everyone was standing on; tilted backwards: leaning a bit to the south. It paused, just long enough for the sand to anchor friendly feet to the ground.

Though much had happened, it had happened very quickly. If Sheena hadn't freaked out, most would barely have had time to turn around and see what Barokendo was doing. As it was, all the Wheel nin had time to do was go on the defense, believing that Barokendo had finally snapped. Sheena was still crying and screaming, as the other two were now, clutched tightly together with Reena in the middle. The Konoha, Suna and Wheel ninja all began to get tense as the ground around them cracked and they were exhumed from the ground. Gigantic, rocky hands threw the removed patch of rock towards Sunagakure, launching it towards the red-canyon rock formation on the horizon. The battle of what appeared to be titans was quickly left behind as the sand-anchored ninja soared with the rock towards their destination.

Whatever he'd done - why ever he'd done it - Barokendo was gone for now and they were all zooming through the air on a giant rock towards the Sunagakure entrance.


	4. Scroll 4

_**Scroll 4, Chocolate Problems:**_

Crystania looked sharply across the board to Abisu. She was in dire trouble and she knew it. Her most valuable asset was threatened. Her chess King was locked into the corner in nearly eight ways.

"I lose. I cannot move enough in one action to save my king. You win Abisu." The frail, yet healthy Hyuuga girl smiled across the chessboard made of bread. "Even without my Byakugan could I win this day."

It was a bright, sunny morning as the hospital patients enjoyed the outdoors. Crystania Hyuuga Jokou sat across from her two newest friends: Abisu and Yuro.

"You're such a push-over, Cry-sama." Yuro smirked with his thin lips. "We should teach you to be an ass-kicker!"

"Do not fault your eyes my good friend. They possess the ability to see the world, quite a lot of it, around them but only at that moment. I think that if you could see the future, you would be the most valued nin in Konoha." He smiled and laughed at Yuro's words. "But then we would have two ass-kickers Yuro-san, and that would offset the balance. I think one is enough." He looked around, wondering if he should set up chess again or propose the idea to go eat.

Abisu looked around, standing up and holding out his hands to help the others up. "Are you ready to go? My brother said he has our rooms set up. And Yuro, have you decided to accept Ebisu-sama's offer and stay with me and my clan along with Crystania?" Abisu wasn't too sure what all Yuro had for options, but he would like to remain as close to his friends as possible.

"Tch, yea I'd have to stick with you two wet-sticks, otherwise you'd bore yourselves to puddles of…" Yuro looked like he was word-lost as Crystania picked up her peach-carved king-piece and stuck it into Yuro's mouth to get a facial reaction.

"You don't mean that, Yuro-chan, do you?" the one-eyed Hyuuga laughed as she stood up. "You're as ready to get out of this place as both Abisu-chan and I are!"

Abisu laughed at Yuro as the white-brown haired Sasuke-personality-mimicker male's green eyes went wavy as he wrapped his thoughts around the peach king in his mouth.

"ACK, Cry-sama, don't embarrass me here!" Yuro reached up and exhumed his food to properly set it in his mouth. "Just think of the implications…a girl giving me a pe-"

Crystania giggled even louder as she took both her hands and scooped up grape bishops, apple knights, cherry pawns, orange rooks and a melon queen and squished it all into Yuro's big mouth.

"You talk too much, Yuro." She hiss-giggled as she followed Abisu to the gate leading to the Med-center's exit. "Let's go see our new rooms, Abisu-Chan. Yuro-chan's too busy eating our game board."

"Crystania! I was going to eat some of that! Oh well, I guess it will just be that much easier to stomach my brothers cooking! He is a good man, a good nin, but if I have ever been afraid of anything, it was his cooking."

He nodded, waiting until Crystania turned to give Yuro a smack on the back to help him cough out the pieces. He then tapped Yuro's shoulder, and nodded towards the exit. He would lead them through town, talking in his normal manner about mundane things or their surroundings, or random interesting facts that would almost never be needed, until he slowed to a stop. "Ah, home at last."

They would be standing outside of a normal looking compound. It wasn't separated from the village, and didn't have too much space of its own around it so they were still in the village, and still mixed in amongst its people, but the house did have a very homey and comfortable feel to it. Like Abisu and his brother, it didn't stand out much in the crowd.

"I TOLD YOU LADY, I…DON'T KNOW!" The sound of a seriously short-tempered Ebisu was heard as the trio entered the compound. Sounds of a furious kitchen escapade accompanied the older jounin's shrill voice.

"How can you NOT BLOODY KNOW CHOCOLATE!" A strange woman's voice echoed after Ebisu's. "ESPECIALLY WITH THE GENIN YOU HAVE!"

Crystania, Yuro and Abisu entered the kitchen area to find a slightly cowed Ebisu blockaded in a corner as the scene truly looked like a tornado had spent the night in the cooking area. Nearly all the cook-bowls were in use with various brown pastes dripping down the sides of some.

"Good woman, I ask you for the last time, please leave or I shall have to call authority down upon you!" Ebisu's voice turned deadly serious now.

"Awh, come on boss, we didn't know where else to take her!" Konohamaru laughed from a counter. He, his two other team mates and Mai Uzaruki were dipping their fingers into smaller bowls, eating the same kind of brown, creamy past.

"You are a sad, sad little man!" The towering, brown-skinned woman that had previously been locked up with Kentarou had been intercepted by Team Ebisu as she was en-route to Sunagakure. Ebisu, being the jounin he was, had to take precautions and bring her in to be questioned.

"I am…am not!" Ebisu outraged indignantly. "You are the one that is prisoner here, lady."

Jino had only laughed and turned back to the large oven to watch the contents inside like a hawk. She had been waylaid since the Chibi-Cook had ditched her and sent her to join the other Wheel Nin Sunagakure. Since then, having broken out of her holding cell, she had tracked down her aggressors; only to be halted in her path of revenge by the lack of tantalizing smell of chocolate in the household.

"Ero-man, you simply MUST use chocolate to help your genin's confidence grow!"

While she was hawk-eyeing her cooking creation, she missed – or didn't care – the trio's entrance.

Abisu raised an eyebrow at the chaos before him. He was disappointed that his home-coming was thus marred, but knew that letting that show and control his emotions would only make things worse. He felt an overwhelming need for diplomacy and being polite. He looked around the room once and spoke in a calm tone:

"Konohamaru-san, if my sister catches you here with your hands covered in something that has made a mess of her home, she will be most angry with you. I think it would be a good idea, for your health and her temper, if you came back to train with Ebisu later on in the day." He'd wait just a moment in hopes that Konohamaru and his trio would take the hint and take-off, or at least hide, before turning to Jino:

"And although delicious, are you sure that chocolate is something to be used in heavy amounts on children just…coming into themselves? It may be good for you, but its side-affects may lead them astray in such…" Abisu looked around the room to emphasize his next words, "…huge amounts. Also, may I ask why you seem to have commandeered our kitchen?" He kept his tone calm, co-operative, and as far away from accusing as possible.

Yet another strange nin had been in the village, though he'd been there for a day already. He wasn't wearing a headband, so his origins were impossible to identify, but he stood out in a crowd like a fire in a dry forest. He was explosively colorful and had a guitar strapped to his back next to a violin. along his arms and legs were many other instruments of the hand-held variety. He took a deep breath in through his nose, smelling the chocolate, and wandered up to stand a few yards behind Yuro and Crystania, licking his lips as he looked at Jino. she might recognize that he was just hungry, or loved chocolate, and wasn't being a pervert.

"Ah, hello there, I thought I smelled another trace-scent of an Uzaruki." Jino crowed in triumph as the oven gave its customary 'ding' and the thin, willowy woman whisked out two sheets of chocolate-nut cookies.

"As to your question, Chibi-Ebisu-chan, I was merely assisting this kind jounin it his attempts to welcome you home."

Either Jino was psychic, or she was extremely well versed in reading the tiny, minute twitches of body language and social situations; using the skill to make scarily accurate assumptions. "I am guessing you are related to my jailer?"

Jino, using two long, strides of her creamy brown legs to stand beside Ebisu, the Ryuukage's elven-pink eyes took in the new additions to her environment – namely the three older kids: Abisu, Crystania and Yuro, as well as the guitar-owning ninja that had come up behind them.

"Open up, Ebisu-san!" Jino, making the nose of Abisu's older jounin brother trickle blood. "Not me, you silly, these!" The Ryuukage slipped a four-pointed shuriken star cookie into his mouth. "Yo, you'd better not move for the next second, kiddies!"

The suave ninja woman spun on her sandaled heel and threw a shuriken cookie at her target that was behind Abisu.

Abisu blinked as the cookie-shuriken flew past him and at the man behind him. He'd heard the nin approach, but figured he'd deal with one problem at a time.

The strange nin opened his mouth wide and ate the cookie, his body freezing for a moment as he closed his eyes, chewed twice, and swallowed. His head snapped forward, eyes wide with a semi-serious look on his face.

"That…" he stretched his arms out to his sides. "…was…" they spun in their joints until they were facing the opposite direction. "…DELICIOUS!"

His opposite-arms bent around his back and started playing and strumming the guitar, his knees bent and his head swirling around like a rocker as he busted out a quick little solo. It only lasted for seven seconds until he stopped, his arms spun back to normal, and he smiled wide and crazy towards Jino.

"YOU ROCK WOMAN!"

Abisu's eyes were a little widened, eyebrows raised, at the man's strange behavior. He wasn't sure if he should be alarmed, disgusted, irritated, or entertained. Although his stomach did growl.

Yuro, having been alert as well, had slid slightly backwards to put Crystania in front of him. But when the man reacted the way he did, both he and Abisu were perturbed.

"What…the heck are you, lady?" Yuro's mouth watered as Jino shooed the four young kids off the counter and began cleaning up after herself.

"Ah, thank so very much, I'm not Ryuukage for nothing, ya know."

In the corner, Ebisu was reduced to flushed cheeks and lovey-dovey eyes as he slowly chewed the cookie his prisoner had placed in his mouth.

"Oh, Abisu-nee-san, you simply must…try one!" Being allowed to move freely now, the shade-wearing ninja scooped up one of the cookie-sheets and moved towards his younger brother, Crystania and Yuro. "Please, try one!"

"You see! A little chocolate goes a long, long way to disabling enemies without blood shed." Jino looked over her brown-clad shoulder towards the polite Abisu and bowed her head and soft apology. "Forgive me if I came across as bold, but after I clean my mess up, I shall be on my way…taking my new friend with me." The pink-eyed lady had meant the guitar-wielding ninja.

Crystania had watch the scene unfold – all within a minute – and allowed her mouth to hang wide open.

"Oh my god! What is that heavenly smell!"

"I told you it was one of my Onee-chan's friends!" Little Mai squealed in pleasure as Moegi greedily licked her chocolaty-paste-filled cup. Next to her, Udon was smiling into his empty vestibule, wanting more.

"Big-Boss-Lady, can I have more!" Udon snuffled his nose as he too, had a look of pure bliss on his face. "Please!"

"Sorry, kid, I'm done here. I've overstayed my forced welcome." Jino's voice drifted around her as she was intensely busy with hot water, cleaning cloth and suds.

"Hell yeah! I could get so DOWN with YOU!" the man said in an almost...surfer way of talking. He seemed like he was about to strike a pose, but rather reached down and pulled a flute off of his leg. He began playing into it, the melody the exact opposite of his earlier antics. As he played, the bowls began to shake and rattle a little. After a moment, they rolled, bouncing a little almost as though dancing, towards the sink, spinning until the chocolate flew out of them to the point of cleanliness.

Any other mess would be confronted by spinning and twisting clothes that moved in unison as they got around the mess, before depositing themselves next to the sink. He paused, opening an eye, to see Abisu and most of the other kids staring at him with open wonder. Abisu was torn once more between open amazement, curiosity, and again alarm at this man's strange abilities. He smiled, stood at ease, and strapped the flute once more to his leg.

After the man stopped, Abisu turned towards Ebisu.

"I…think I am ready for your cooking brother. I need something to make the world normal again."

Snapping out of his cookie-induced euphoria, Ebisu shook his head and stared down at the cookie sheet.

"Yes! Of course, please forgive me, Abisu-nee-san." Ebisu turned around to place the sheet on the counter and looked – glared – at his genin team.

"Al right you little lazy-bums! Go job around the Hokage's office thirty times! Hop too, now! I shall join you in a while, Konohamaru-sama. Don't you dare slack off now!"

Crystania laughed as she, Yuro and Abisu entered the sitting room and took seats as the genins and Mai shot out of the Ebisu kitchen in record time. Yuro, however, was intrigued as the blue-eyed version of Yukari ran past him. The little girl had the exact same, spiky short hairstyle that Yukari had when Yuro last remembered seeing her. Bringing his hand to his shoulder then to his hip and back again; the recovered team 13 genin looked lost as Crystania pushed him into a seat.

"Thank you so very much Ebisu-sama!" Mai turned and bowed; having to be drug out of the doorway by Konohamaru.

"Come on Mai, if Boss-lady catches us here, we're dead still!"

"Oh come on, Kono-boss, Onee-chan wouldn't kill us for spying on her having se-" Moegi and Udon's hands appeared and clapped over Mai's mouth; just in time too, as Ebisu's sharp eyes and ears glinted their way.

"Mai! Let's go!" Moegi whispered into Mai's ear. "No need to tell anyone about that thing, ok!"

With or without Mai's answer the four kids ran off, planning more mischief.

Ebisu only shook his head; looked blankly at the nearly-eight foot tall woman and reached into the refrigerator to extract what ever it was he had come up with to celebrate his younger brother's return.

"I am glad to have you home safe and sound, Abisu-chan!" Ebisu smiled as he dramatically entered the sitting room; flourishing his hand-made food sandwiches. Using a pointer finger to push those dark shades up his nose via habit, Ebisu positioned himself and half-watched the kitchen and the sitting room with his other half of attention.

"And I am very glad to be home safe and sound, Ebisu-chan!" Abisu smiled, moving forward to give his brother a hug. He separated, picking up one of the sandwiches and hoping that, since it looked like this food didn't have to be cooked; his brother couldn't have messed it up. He was wrong, but not very. "I see your culinary skills are improving!" he laughed, motioning for Crystania and Yuro to make themselves at home.

The strange nin watched the trio of little-nin, and the mini-nin, run off before turning towards Jino. "So you don't seem like you belong here either, my chocolate skinned chocolate chakra'd chicka." he no longer seemed to have a surfer accent, but spoke in a mostly normal voice.

As he spoke, he idly played with a small instrument in his hand. It looked like a tiny harp, with a hole in the handle for his thumb. He would spin the object around and play with just his left hand. The sound wasn't very loud, but it did have the effect of the surrounding area seeming to be a lot more peaceful. The man stood straight, eyes not as wide-opened as when he'd first walked up, and was smiling with ease. He seemed a lot less insane now as he waited for her response.

"You'd be right; I am not from around here." The pink-eyed woman finished placing the last cooking bowl in its proper place and quietly left the Ebisu kitchen, shoving the guitar-wielding ninja in front of her and out the side door – locking it behind her. The Ryuukage had stayed long enough, and now wanted to catch up with the dragon she had sent ahead of her to Skiminachi's fellow Wheel Nin.

"I'm Jino-sama, and I would very much like to know your name, stranger."

"Me? I'm ROXXANND!" he said with a shout, his right hand slapping a hidden drum in his pants, and the other flicked, spinning the little instrument.

A quick burst of wind flew upwards from the ground at their feet, striking multiple notes on his guitar before dissipating. If Jino was wearing any loose clothing, it would also have the side-effect of blowing that upward for a moment, though by the look on his face when he introduced himself that was far from his intended purpose.

Jino laughed in joy as her hair and baggy shirt blew up in his breeze – yea, her cookies were that good.

"So now that we're not strangers, does that mean we're friends?" He smiled crookedly, half-joking.

"Well, I guess so…" Jino sighed as she looked upwards to the elite ninja that had surrounded the dusty path she walked on. "It would seem that they have finally caught up to me."

The Ryuukage grinned feline-ically and lifted her hands to the sky. "OY, I would most like to be directed to the…Hokage…'s office now!"

Roxxannd shrugged and raised his hands up in the same manner she had. "…and until I am able to locate my brother I will follow this person!" After a moment he leaned over to Jino and whispered:

"Who's the Hokage?"

"I'm guessing we'll soon find out…" Jino's smile slid into oblivion as the Konoha ninja led them deeper into the village.

XXX

Inside, Crystania had laughed freely as she ate one of Ebisu's sandwiches. "Oh, I love pickles!"

"Ah, I was wondering what that was." Abisu looked to see if Yuro was able to stomach the food well enough. He sometimes wasn't sure if his brothers cooking really was that bad, or if he'd just gotten so used to it being bad it always tasted that way. "So, not for today at least but…" he paused to take a bite. "When do you think we might be able to get back to training, brother?"

Yuro had taken one bite of his sandwich and was now comically choking on the pickle – due to the tone of voice Crystania had used on the word 'pickle.' Yuro had taken it as a sexually-loaded threat, and had reacted like Sasuke would have reacted. Ebisu had merely perked up an eyebrow at the boy and pounded the platinum blonde-haired kid on the back.

"Training, ah yes." Ebisu once again slid his shades up onto his nose. "I have yet to discuss the subject of getting you a new sensei to train under."

"Where is Jamaru-sensei?" Yuro asked blatantly. "And my other two team-mates, Sudokari and Yukari-san?"

Abisu paused, not quite sure what to say. he had inquired into Yuro's past, wondering if something similar had happened to him, also wanting to know more about a person that he might be inviting to his home. He just wasn't sure if he was the person that should tell him or not, so he looked to his brother with a questioning look on his face.

"To put it bluntly, kid, your sensei was a traitor and, like his brother Mizuko-sensei; was sentenced to be excommunicated and sent to prison." Ebisu's face had a seriously serious look on it as he – eyes being hidden by those black-shades – looked sadly at Yuro Maso. "As for your other two friends…Sudokari Misaruki is dead, and Yukari Uzaruki is out on a mission."

"…" Yuro sat there, his fingers templed to his lips as his navy-blue shirt rustled in his action to lean forward to slide into his best brooding pose.

"Oh it's so very sad, right Yuro-chan?" Crystania, being the odd one; laughed and slapped Yuro on the back; making him shift overly forward and land his face into the chip-dip.

Abisu grabbed Crystania's wrist if she went to smack him again, putting his finger to his lips and making a silent motion. He thought Yuro would either act like nothing was wrong and be his usual self; or break down and cry or attack something. He sighed, knowing this kind of news was never easy to take in.

Yuro grunted and pulled his face out of the chip dip and stood up. "I'll be outside, if anyone cares…" Then, turning on his heel, Yuro – his face now partially matching his hair color: white – left through the closest exit; the front.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to push him into the table…" Now Crystania looked like she was about to cry.

_I'm an absolute freak, slapping my friends like that…_ The Hyuuga girl thought to herself as she too, stood up and quickly moved into the kitchen – where she promptly started in on those shuriken cookies Jino left behind. The Hyuuga girl was socially inept to the point of painfulness.

XXX

Jack was still walking around the village, though his other two brothers had left at about the same time the rest of his family had with the Wheel and leaf-nin. He'd been rather contemplative over the past few days. He had, over the past year, had a long term goal he'd wanted to achieve and little else entered his mind.

But recently the possibility of another kind of life, however faint that chance was, had entered. So now he was looking for Meiko. He saw a smaller version of Yukari up ahead so just waited, waving to her and Konohamaru's group. He hoped they stopped, as it always got awkward chasing people down.

"Shhh!" A soft, feminine voice hissed at Jack. "Don't let those losers know you're here!" Meiko's hand shot out and grabbed Jack's elbow, using enough strength to pull him onto another dirt-path that Konoha had lots of. "Mai'll only pester you until you go insane!"

Meiko Uzaruki stood in the shadow of the building that now stood between Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, Mai, Meiko and Jack. "She is just as annoying as a sunbeam."

"I was wondering who was watching me since I'd ordered all of mine out of the village. I'm already a little off in the head, and I like sunbeams: I didn't see one until I was six." Jack was extremely pale skinned, like the rest of his family – he grew up out of the sun's rays and like per said, didn't see the sun till age six.

Jack let himself get pulled along though, smiling for a moment as he just quickly thought of something. He made it seem as though her pulling him caused him to trip over something, then used that to send his body falling, turning to give her a hug and put his arms around her. Like his usual habit, he was silent, waiting for her response.

Meiko's face went red as her eyes; her arms reactively catching Jack as he fell. Feeling his arms around her, Meiko canted her head and smiled. _Is this what it feels like to like-like somebody?_

XXX

The dude smiled even wider as he walked deeper in, staring for long moments of time at the oddest places. "I can see WHERE he's been, but not where he went…hmmmm. He said he had something he really wanted to tell me too. So what brought you here Jino?" He asked, acting as though the other ninja around them didn't exist.

"Well, I suppose I was brought here by an old, idiotic friend of mine; chances of fate, as it were. I've spent the whole of last night and yesterday scouting the areas around here. So I've figured I would be escorted to the Hokage, their leader, when I was caught yesterday evening by a team of Leaf Ninja." Jino smiled as the Konoha Elite ninja held out his hand; wanting her weapons.

"I'll have to ask you to remove any weapons you have, Ona-san." One of them asked. Jino shrugged gave her kunai and senbon right up; keeping only her ninja-headband that hung off her waist.

"It's time to meet the Hokage!" Jino laughed, sending the Konoha ninja into a tense situation.

Roxxannd sighed, bowing his head when the ninja asked for weapons removal. He took off his guitar, his flute, violin, a kazoo, mini-harp, and a wind-chime. He unzipped the back of his shirt and took out a harp, pulled an ocarina out of his pants, a recorder out of his shoe, and what looked like it might be a wind instrument on the end of a string that was attached to a stick. He then pulled off a cap he had been wearing, reached into his shirt to pull something, and his hair came out, landing in the cap in a large ball. His hair had gone a little past his waist; it was a large ball of hair. He then shook his legs one by one and all the standard nin-weapons fell out, shuriken, kunai, etc.

"I always forget how big my collections grown. I think I've forgotten a few, it's been so long since I used them." He did hold one wind instrument in his hand though. He kept a pretty good grip on it, as though it might have more personal meaning than offensive. "Please don't let anyone play those, it might kill them." He said as he turned towards Jino and smiled. He was just going to follow her lead for now, though he might've been a little extreme with taking off so much.

"Ona-san, please remove your body armor." Haiko, the snotty-assed ninja that teased Yukari asked Jino again. "It the presence of the Hokage, you must not have any weapons."

The rest of the Konoha ninjas there sweat-dropped as Jino brushed her hands off as she entered the Hokage's office un-escorted. Haiko was on the ground, critically injured with punch-marks.

"Come on, Rox-chan, the Hokage hates to be kept waiting." Jino motioned at him.

"Somebody smells like they've had too much whoop-ass." Roxxannd stepped over Haiko as he followed Jino into the office. He looked around the office, then leaned and looked around Jino's side to see if he could spot the Hokage. Without his hair, hat, and instruments, he looked like just a weird, but very colorful, man.

Jino smiled to the black-haired lady that stood stoutly in front of the Hokage's office door.

"I'll not let you pass, stranger. The Hokage is busy now." Shizune said as Tonton oinked from next to her.

"Ah, are you the Hokage, then, youngling?" Jino stood at least a head over Shizune and smiled down at her. "That's a neat animal you have there, what is it?" the Ryuukage bent down and scooped up the Pig. "This animal is soo cute!"

"OINK!" Tonton wriggled in Jino's grasp. "OOOINK!"

XXX

Jack cracked a smile while Meiko couldn't see it. _That worked out rather well._ He coughed; then unwrapped his arms from around her, standing up straight and dusting himself off. "Sorry about that, you caught me a little off guard there so I didn't balance in time. So were you just in the area or were you watching me?"

"I was NOT spying you…I was looking for my older sister, Yukari-san. I wanted to ask her if she could get me in to the Rookery to see the baby birds." Meiko's face was still red as she watched Jack remove himself from the hug. "I wanted to get my own messenger bird soon, and I wondered if I would choose from this clutch."

"Haha, if you say so. Yukari? She left sometime yesterday on a mission that I'm told is going to be very long. A bir-oooo, I had almost forgotten that your family is good with birds. I am used to many other kinds of messengers. Myself." Jack hadn't planned this out, but he was still shirtless, wearing only pants like he always was. He was decently lean and muscled. It looked like the only thing stopping him from being a physically-built bad-ass was his age.

"She has? YES!" Meiko did a little dance. "Now I'm the oldest Uzaruki girl in the Village! Sweet! Like your body. Let's go find out if we can sneak in and find those birds!" Meiko grinned fearlessly and motioned Jack to follow her on the rooftops.

XXX

Abisu sighed, grabbing a couple of clean towels off the counter. After a few quick hand signs and there were two of him in the room. They turned towards each other, nodded, nodded to Ebisu, and then went through different doors to get to their varying friends.

"Use this to wipe your face off." He said as he held out a towel for Yuro.

"Please…forgive her. I think that since she has been cooped up most of her life and had no real friends, she doesn't know how to act around others sometimes."

"Well, I don't know what to do either. The Med-nin says it's been two years since I slipped into a coma and life has changed all around me." Yuro muttered evenly.

"Then Ebisu-sama up and tells me that my team mate is dead and my sensei is a traitor. I'm just relieved that Yukari-chan is ok." The blonde-genin smiled weakly and tilted his head back to feel the sun on his face. "My world is twisted and broken like my team, Abisu-san. I don't know what I should do next. Sudokari-san was our leader…"

"Your world is not twisted or broken, just very stretched by so much time that has passed without you. You will be able to see this Yukari when she returns, and you can always find where your Sudokari's grave is to visit. I myself do not know how you should feel about your old sensei, and for what to do next? Keep living. You have me and Crystania now, and you can live here for now. Soon, we will begin training again. Even if it does not feel like what you should do, stay with us until everything makes more sense." He smiled and gave his friend a pat on the back.

Yuro lowered his face and smirked at Abisu. "Sure. Let's move in to a place and then go heckle that Blonde-Hokage to tell us everything of what we should know."

XXX

The Abisu-clone walked into the kitchen and closed a hand around the hand of Crystania's that currently held a cookie.

"Slow down a little; enjoy it more. Besides, we may want some soon as well." he said before sitting next to her. "Don't feel too bad. Hopefully, Yuro-san will see you don't have much practice with this sort of thing…and will forgive you. If not, there is always something you can do to make it up to him."

"But, I was such an ass: he heard his team die, and he leaned forward like he was going to explode." Crystania's better eye shed a few tears as her hand lowered the shuriken cookie. "I wasn't going to let him do that to himself, no way. Yuro-chan is on our team now. You and me and him."

The Hyuuga reject girl babbled on, not caring if Abisu was going to hit her to get her to shut up or not. "Yuro was so sad looking. I hated that."

"I did not like it either. But the next time somebody is sad, be sad or silent with them for a moment. At least, do not laugh. Yuro will understand once you explain it to him, or maybe he will just figure it out all his own. He'll forgive you."

" – sniffle – I hope so, I like Yuro-chan, he's so brave and…and…normal looking." Crystania put the cookie back on the counter and turned to the door. "Let's go see what he's doing now!"


	5. Scroll 5

_**Scroll 5, Insanity 2**_

Absol and Giratina glared at each other. Red eyes staring into blood red eyes; it was a battle of wills.

"GO ABSOL! Use Slash!" Sailor Moon called to her friend's best pokemon, a level 86 Absol.

The proud and noble Absoru, whose name was nothing less than its perfect species name – Absol (Americanized)/ Absoru (Japanese), leapt into instant action. Absol's fighting instinct was honed to a deadly sharp perfection by years of faithful attention to his beloved owner: Jiru Setchi – a senshi that was a traveler of dimensions. Finding himself in a slap-dash mix of multiple dimensions, Absol had only to turn to see a friendly face: Sailor Moon. Knowing the blonde-haired heroine from his master's collection of human friends, Absol acknowledged the blue-eyed ally.

"Absol!" The black and white, red-eyed beast lunged at the Negative-World Based Pokemon and used the move Slash. The Giratina never had time to dodge as the black, cartilage-based horn of the Absol slashed clean through two of its six legs.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Kenpachi let his arms drop from his nonchalant, bored pose as his pokemon, Giratina, fell to his left, now uneven, side as the two disembodied legs fell away.

"OH SHIT! Kenny's pokemon is injured!" Yachiru screamed as she turned away from the pirate tea party she was having with a red-headed Nami and Sanji.

The two pirates had ended up in the glade of Konoha when the bear-handed Bartholomew Kuma had repelled them from Shabody Park. They had wondered in after Luna was peeled off Giratina's face. Yachiru, being the dangerous-adventure type had begged Sanji into making tea.

"OY!" Sanji's eye turned into a heart as he gazed at the blonde loveliness of Sailor Moon. "MELLONINE!"

"Dragonite, restrain him please!" Nami called out her yellow dragon pokemon and laughed as the large thing sat on Sanji.

"Oh Nami-chwan is so cute when she's angry!" Sanji cried from below Nami's Dragonite.

"YAY, I love masochists!" Yachiru cheered for Nami as both Sailor Moon and Kenpachi looked on in annoyance.

"Oy, Yachiru, don't drink strange things with idiots like that Shit Cook." Kenpachi scowled. "Giratina, use Hollow Blast!"

Giratina roared in pain as it opened its mouth to emit a black, red-tinted Cero. Absol dodged it.

"Great dodge, Absol, now use Perfect Getsuga Tenshō!" Sailor Moon ordered the Absol.

"ABSOL!" The black and white being opened his stance up to stabilize himself and arched his head back. His black, razor-sharp horn that grew on the right side of his head glowed a black-red. Absol then darted his head forward, sending the energy-charged horn slashing towards Giratina.

Giratina was instantly defeated. Kenpachi and Yachiru wept at their loss.

_KENPACHI VS. SAILOR MOON_

Kenpachi's Pokemon: Mewtwo, Giratina, Mightyena, Togepi, Nidoking, Cleffa

Sailor Moon's Pkmn: Clefairy, Palgiaceus, Ditto, Charizard, Dugtrio, Absol

_SAILOR MOON VS. YACHIRU_

Yachiru's PKMN: Smoochum, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Togepi, Azurill, Skitty

_SAILOR MOON VS. NAMI_

Nami's PKMN: Dragonite, Luvdisc, Gyrados, Umbreon, Meowth, Castform

_NAMI VS. TENTEN_

Tenten's Pkmn: Ninjask, Shedinja, Scyther, Ampharos, Oddish, Bellossom

_NAMI VS. NEJI_

Neji's Pkmn: Claydol, Alakazam, Medicham, Xatu, Hitmonchan, Crobat

_NEJI VS. SANJI_

Sanji's Pkmn: Fagmar, Jynx, Hitmonlee, Blaziken, Gallade, Luvdisc

_SANJI VS. RANMA_

Ranma's Pkmn: Jynx, Mr. Mime, Gallade, Gardevoir, male Lopunny, Hariyama


	6. Scroll 6

_**Scroll 6, Sand Fall**_

As the large, sand-covered rock that Barokendo had hurled, zoomed through the air; the sand-anchored group thought things couldn't get any worse. Unfortunately for them; disconnected reality was something a Twisted ninja specialized in; especially James. Just as the Sand village began to edge into sight, a nearby cloud seemed to just disappear, evaporating until there was nothing to cover what waited in ambush.

An eye, as big around as several people and a quarter the size of the rock on which they stood, was floating there. It was not the size of the eye or placement, that was alarming and strange; but the fact that where most eyes had veins, streaks of red through which blood flowed, this eye had green streaks made of vines, and the moment the rock passed by the eye zoomed straight into it and collided with the rock.

The surface of the eye broke, slimy vines getting stretched all across the rock and slapping a few people off of it in the process: a few of them being Yukari, Shozaku and Joma. Shozaku was flung off into the distance, but Joma latched on to the eye, and his entire body began to glow.

So much chakra began to flow from Joma into the strange eye-creature that all could see it, special eyes or not, and it began to mutate further. Originally, the ninjutsu eyeball was meant to capture or eliminate. But with everything Joma was putting into it, it grew too strong. The Eye began to thrash a few of its vines about, knocking off a few of the Sand nin; as well as Yamira.

Further still Joma pumped it, until it finally became too strong to merely hold on to the rock. With a great cracking noise, the rock was split and crushed into pieces. The sand that had anchored most onto it dissipated, and the various chunks of rock that held different groups flew off in multiple directions.

Some flew off in pairs, some flew off alone. If anyone was watching the eye, it would float there, clutching Joma in its vines as the Wheel Nin continued to stuff it full of chakra. The last thing they would see of them before any zoomed out of sight; was a gigantic burst of blood in the air as though something had popped.

Then, there was just whistling air; as the broken ninja group went every which way - before whoever landed wherever, onto whatever it was they would crash on.

Hani had been closest to Kankuro and two other Sand nin; they had careened off to the left as the enraged ocular beast killed the flying rock.

Kakashi, Gilligan and Wydra winced as Usagi screamed in consternation as their rock piece went skipping along the canyon's top and into the Village Hidden in the Sand.

Having been shifted around in the anchoring sand; Sheena and Reena landed in the carved out path in the canyon with the rest of the Sand Nin – unfortunately, the only other woman in the welcoming Suna group had taken the fall bad, and broke her neck, dying in the line of duty.

Yukari had been unlucky enough to be skipped to the right of the red-hued wall of rock that surrounded most of Sunagakure; which was the same direction of which the eye-vines had hurled Shozaku.

The outlying attack was bad enough to be noted upon and sentries sending more Sand Ninja jumping into action to follow each of the broken groups of ninja – all Wheel, Sand and Leaf.

XXX

Kakashi, Wydra, Usagi and Gilligan arched over the rocky wall and descended. Gilligan latched onto Kakashi, holding close onto him. She closed her eyes tight, getting an almost death-like-grip on the man in her fear-driven state. Although it might not be something Kakashi would take much note of at the moment, it would feel as though Gilligan was wearing a few extra layers of clothing, as if to hide something.

Wydra hung onto Usagi's left arm as they pierced through the air on their downward arch. A large, dark spot would appear in the air, only a flash of a moment before Usagi or Wydra would crash into it. It was nothing malicious or dangerous, but much the opposite as the two felt cushioned by the strange dark substance. It would travel with them, like a black air-bag, acting as a buffer to lessen the fall.

XXX

Sheena rolled to a stop, hugging Reena close and forming a large ball of chain so she wouldn't be damaged. Sheena was used to pain, damage and even strange and cruel tortures; but she had become so attached to the dog that she would do whatever to protect the puppy. Unfortunately, she couldn't see where she was going and was already so weak that when she stopped; the chains just collapsed, unable to wrap back around her.

This dropped her to the ground; or rather, it would have if there wasn't one of the male-sand nin there; awake or not, he would find himself with a small and tortured looking little girl on top of him. Her spiked helmet had flown off in the crash, so her frizzy hair was free, and she was still wearing her pants.

But because she was always covered in chains, the kind that tore up any torso wear, the Sand nin would find Sheena shirtless on top of him, her slowly growing and quickly-approaching womanhood body against him as her back was to the rest of the world.

Sheena blinked slowly, gaining consciousness atop the strange-man. She looked around for a moment, reached out and gave Reena a re-assuring pat even though she wasn't as bad off as Sheena was herself, then looked around. Looking down, she realized why it didn't feel like sand underneath her, and immediately freaked out. She didn't have the strength for much though, so she rolled off of him slowly and tried crawling away with a pained look on her face.

Responding ninja, all male, jumped into the scene and analyzed the others. One, Jiyu, looked at Sheena and asked:

"Are you ok there, girl?"

"GET AWAY!" Sheena screamed with a strained voice, her general fear of being alone with men being amplified by how many there were.

The chains rattled weakly, as though attempting to put a force to the will of her words. She got to the end of the chains and found herself unable to crawl any further, her non-chakra boosted body unable to carry the weight all by itself in her state. It didn't help that she'd put Reena on her back. She kept trying to crawl though.

"Hey, its ok, we're here to help!" The unknowing man pressed the issue, stepping towards Sheena. "Things will be ok, really."

Reena barked twice and whimpered as the fur on its left ear was slightly red and sandy. It was merely a scratch, but the puppy was still wounded.

XXX

Yamira had been knocked high into the air, stopping with a crash onto one of the higher buildings in the Sand Village. She had come face to neutral face with a turquoise-hued gaze of a very important person. Black-rimmed eyes stared out the hole the woman's body made and narrowed as the male body stood up – as silently as the sand that poured out his back.

Yamira, having been knocked temporarily unconscious by the fall, opened her eyes slowly, groaning as she got to a kneeling position.

"Where…am I?" she said, looking around with half-open eyes as she struggled to stay awake. She was missing the headband, but she was still somehow wearing the earrings with the Sunagakure symbol on them.

"You are in the Kazekage's office building, and I insist you tell me why? You aren't a face I recognize, so what are you doing here?" The red-headed Kazekage's asked evenly. There was a hint of threat in his gaze as the door opened and Baki entered.

"Kazekage-sama! What is…!" Baki exclaimed.

Yamira slowly rose to her feet, wobbling for a few seconds, then stumbling over and putting her hands on a chair to stabilize herself.

"I…my name is…" she paused for a moment with a pained look on her face, wracking her brain to remember anything.

"I…don't know…I don't know what's going on, where I am, who I am, or how I got here. or why everything is so fuzzy…"

"Relax, I've call the Med-Squad here so they'll be able to help you…" Baki muttered as he stepped past the Kazekage and helped Yamira take a seat. "You've got Suna markings on you…and you're…beautiful!"

Behind him, Gaara's left eyebrow quirked in amusement.

XXX

Kakashi had held onto Gilligan and managed to even keep a hold on Wydra. Usagi had landed softly whereas the other three had went 'doomph' into the sand on the other side of the entrance canyon.

"HOLY SPIT!" Usagi couldn't verbally say 'shit' because she had been jarred enough to bite her tongue when she just so happened to speak. "What the helth happened!"

The black cloud that had cushioned Usagi's fall took form, eventually shrinking down into the well-covered form of Jake.

"I wish I could answer your question. Unfortunately I could only be here long enough to make sure you were alive and unharmed enough to keep living. There's somewhere else I need to be, and someone I need to deal with. Live on Wheel Woman." Jake said before dissipating into black mist and disappearing into thin air.

Gilligan and Wydra slowly opened their eyes, looking up at Kakashi as they spoke in unison:

"Is everything okay now?"

"Yea…I think so…" the jounin sat up and rubbed the back of his head. _This is going to be problematic…_ Kakashi thought as he took stock of their surroundings. "We're in the Village, but I don't think this is the way we wanted to enter."

Indeed, the four of them sat in the rubble of a broken wall that was a living place. The owners glared fiercely at the four Konoha and Wheel Nin.

Gilligan paused for a moment, looking around. She didn't take much not of the family, though she did notice their surroundings: especially something that smelled extremely good. Sniffing around, Gilligan turned her head in a full-circle, stopping its rotation at Kakashi and sniffing even further. She began to sniff Kakashi with a questioning look on his face, leaning in and sniffing a little more.

"Why do you –sniff– smell so good?" Gilligan looked up, confused. Wydra had a raised eyebrow, having stopped when Gilligan began sniffing around loudly. Unlike Gilligan, Wydra was intensely focused on Usagi rather than Kakashi, so she was able to quell the arousal in her stomach. Wydra stood next to Usagi.

"Are you okay Rabbit-lady?"

"Ugh, yea I am." Usagi sat up and glared back at the family of who just lost their western wall to falling Konoha ninjas.

"Why the bleep did that hulking titan of a jerk throw us out! We could have helped him…as a team!" Usagi fumed as Kakashi looked oddly at Gilligan.

"Easy, Uzaruki-san, I'm sure the ninja had his reasons…" Kakashi assisted Usagi to her feet.

Gilligan sniffed Kakashi a few more times. She had never let go of him, though she was using her own feet to stand, and still had her arms around him. She began to get a completely new – and not altogether welcomed – sensation between her legs and the pit of her stomach. This is something that most girls would feel. Unlike most girls, a completely different thing began to build and well up inside her.

Massive amounts of chakra – as though a few gates had been broken inside her – rushed through Gilligan's system. Kakashi might feel Gilligan begin to swell up a little, as though parts of her were growing rapidly, and her hair was quickly getting longer and longer.

She tightened her grip around Kakashi's waist, the look on her face slowly changing from confused to possessive. She wasn't sure why, but the teddy-wielding kid really wanted the jounin male all to herself right now.

Wydra's eyes widened and she reached over and tugged Usagi to her side at about the same time Gilligan started. Embarrassed, she mumbled out:

"I feel funny…"

"Funny? Oh geez, you're not bleeding internally, are you, kid?" Usagi's bi-colored red eyes widened as she looked at Wydra, then Gilligan. "Where is a damned Med-nin when you need one? DRAKE-CHAN!"

There was no answer to the name, and Usagi began looking at the two with mild alarming concern.

XXX

Hani had, like the unfortunate female Sand ninja that was with Sheena's broken off group, had landed on her solar plexus wrong. However, unlike the currently deceased Suna kunoichi, Hani was able to buffer the blow enough so it wasn't a death sentence. It was with growing horror that Kankuro and the two other Suna ninja that saw the condition of their Konoha ally. Kankuro, being the elder brother of the Kazekage, barked out orders as reinforcements arrived.

The orders were given, and the Suna ninja responded in kind; narrowing in on the scattered Wheel Nin and their Konoha escorts. Kankuro turned to look as one of his men inspected Hani.

"She's alive, sir, but…unresponsive." The black-haired nin said.

"Well, don't just stand there, stabilize her!" The puppet-master scowled. "I'll go see if I can locate the others!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

XXX

Having been knocked off earlier, Shozaku had recovered and was quickly running towards Yukari's crash site.

Yukari was the unlucky ninja, as her piece of rock went screaming across the top of the mountainous wall that was a barrier of the Sunagakure. She vented her frustration in the anchoring sand as soon as Barokendo had trapped the group mere minutes ago – she was trying to summon a large enough air-raptor to catch their fall. So focused on that, she missed blocking the eyeball-based vine that blind-sided her left temple. This sent her reeling head over heels as her feet finally skidded to a stop on the ledge.

Shozaku, slowing to a stop form his chakra boosted run, came up to Yukari. Conscious or not, he'd put his hands on her shoulders, shake her gently, and speak:

"Yukari! are you alright?"

"Uhhh oohh shit, my head…" Yukari responded to Shozaku's queries. "What… happened! Sand! Where's the trees…who the hell are you!" Jumping out of Shozaku's hands, Yukari snarled as she brought out her kunai.

Shozaku reacted quickly and swiftly, bringing out a pair of dice from his ninja-pack. With a quick flick of the wrist, he rolled a pair of dice and threw them to the ground. They landed with a three and a two, and upon landing both his weapons and Yukari's would be forcefully ejected away from their bodies.

"Okay, I can see you've taken a head-blow. Listen: I just wanna talk and explain what's going on…"

"Dice? You're that Gambler from the Ichiraku Shack!" Yukari pointed accusingly. "Did you kidnap me and bring me to…" It was here that Yukari stopped to look around, taking stock of her surroundings. "Sand…red rock…Sunagakure?" Then, looking down at herself, she found that her whole let side was scraped up, marred and bleeding.

"Oh that's just great…" She fell to her knees, and so missed the fact that her shorts were no longer covering her left hip or leg; which revealed the blood that flowed down her left side – along with the trickle of blood that signaled her moon's cycle.

"Yes, we're at Sunagakure…" he continued talking as she looked down. "After knowing us for a few days, your Hokage sent you to escort us to this village and…well, that's surprisingly awkward. Um…" He felt around for some extra cloth so she could clean up. He settled for just taking off his shirt and holding it out:

"I hope this helps…?"

"!" Yukari - getting a feedback loop from Sheena, Wydra and Gilligan - looked utterly surprised as she stared at Shozaku's mouth-watering figure as he took off his shirt.

"Dayum…" Yukari muttered, feeling her curse mark flare into 'On' mode. Lunging at Shozaku with a speed that made her pounding head scream in protest, she reached out and gripped the shirt with her left hand as her right wrapped itself around his shoulder; bringing her face, her lips, onto his. "Somebody needs to eat that right up now…"

Yukari started grinding against his hip as she leaned her torso in closer to his naked chest. Shozaku was facing a horrible moral impasse: or rather, from an outside perspective it would be rather horrible. His thought process went something like this:

_I shouldn't take advantage of her. This is worse than being drunk! But…I haven't gotten any in days…and she IS coming on to me…but she's all crazy about that one guy. Wait, we almost got it on before…but she's not in control…so…I should be._

All this was processed in the few seconds of time after she latched onto and kissed him. He blinked, shrugged, and smiled for a moment as he looked straight into her eyes. The next, he spun her around with a quick arm motion to have her face away; then wrapped his arms around her again. One hand of his shot straight into her pants, the other going straight up what was left of her shirt, both arms crossed so he could hold her close and push her against him as he grinded against her from behind. He leaned in to nibble on her ear a moment before licking and sucking along her neck.

"I think I'll have a taste first if you don't mind…" he whispered seductively in her ear, his voice full of lusty promises and hints of what he wanted to do with her.

"Oh…" Yukari moaned out before her scrapped up left leg gave out and she swayed to her left. She would have fallen and ended up face first against Shozaku's crotch. Only he had acted first and turned her around so her back was to him. So instead, she slid down the front of him, feeling that present bulge that was in his pants with the back of her head.

"Stupid leg…" She cursed her bad luck and struggled to lift herself back into position as her buckled leg had let her fall enough down to pull Shozaku's hand out of her torn pants. She was now on her knees with that back of her head against his crotch.

XXX

Sheena almost started to cry, as hateful of her current circumstances as she was. But she stopped, as a strange sensation started growing within her. Almost as though right next to her, she could feel the vibration from each of their steps. She was confused, torn more so than either of her friends might be. Normally, the only male she wanted around was her brother and the strange cook.

Now, for some reason something; she found the men nearby were appealing, though she didn't know what or why. She, and possibly a few of the surrounding Sand-nin, could feel the chakra building up inside of her, made more obvious by the fact that the chains were rattling with renewed energy. One chain began to curl around Jiyu's foot.

Reena herself could feel chakra being pushed into her at a rapid rate, a bit of bleed-off from Sheena herself; the chakra was almost forcing the puppy to grow. Not quite grow in size, but in other, strange ways.

"Hey, what the!" Jiyu cursed out loud as the chain snaked up around his foot. "A chain!"

"What's wrong, Jiyu?" another male ninja stood next to him.

"What are you dogs doing!" the gruff voice of Kankuro barked from behind Sheena. "We have an emergency here, and you two are just standing around staring at the girl? Get her and take her to the medical buildings, where we'll meet the rest!"

"Woof!" Reena leapt up, having grown from small fry to ten months in a span of thirty seconds. The Inuzuka whelp jumped on Kankuro's left foot and started humping his leg.

The very connection she didn't know she formed, the one she made to bring other people closer and to her ideals, was now working against her. She may have been able to resist, the rest were far enough away that she could block out the feelings of lust and the hormonal urgings. But Reena was like the button to the bomb. Sheena had welled up inside, and released something she never wanted released. The moment Reena started humping Kankuro's leg – arguably the most powerful man in the area – there was a thunderclap as her body gained an enormous amount of chakra.

She recover from her injuries, standing up as the chain that was wrapped around Jiyu's foot threw him off to the side, as several others lifting up from the sand that hid around Kankuro. As the chains began to wrap around him, and they would, unless he could think fast enough or somebody stopped it, he could see her begin to transform.

Sheena's body began to shine, as though itself becoming metallic. Her features began to grow, as though she matured months in a minute. Her hair became less of a frizzled dome, becoming sleek and smooth as she walked towards him. She did not move seductively, she did not say or do anything appealing. But it was very clear in her eyes that she wanted him, and that she would kill to have him.

"Uhh…" Kankuro looked on in confusion as chakra-laced chains encircled him, pinning his arms against his sides. It was even more startling to see the brat kid before him throw one of his squad to the side like a useless puppet. The girl transformed from a brat to a lusty, long-haired vixen from a dream. The puppet-master's body betrayed him thoroughly as the crotch of his pants bulged in response.

"Kankuro-sama!" A few of his squad members cried in surprise as the brat girl transformed into a certain threat.

Seeing as nobody came to Kankuro's defense, he would find his body wrapped in chains. His arms would be bound to his sides, his fingers barely movable, as his legs were forced apart, pants ripping in the process. He would be slammed onto his back upon the ground, as Sheena walked right up to him. She looked him up and down, her eyes stopping on the bulge in his ripped-pants, the corner of her lips stretching into a smile as her lips parted slightly, her tongue snaking out to lick them.

"Mmmm…I…don't normally go for your type but…you'll do very well…" she said, reaching with her own hands towards the rim of her pants.

"Wa-wait just a minute there, girly." Kankuro stuttered. "Don't…you want to do what I think you're going to do…properly?" Even though his body continued to betray him, Kankuro still had use of his thinking, planning mind: and his goal was to defuse the tense situation – otherwise there would be actions taken that both he and the Konoha ninjas would have to react upon.

One of those was his ninja were closing in on the now-beautiful girl; all eight of them on kill-mode. Another was progressing fast enough to make all of them uncomfortable: a serious sex-bent girl wanting some action.


	7. Scroll 7

_**Scroll 7, Naughty**_

Author's note: This chapter is rated NC-17 for intimate action.

…

Jake probably would have come to help the three girls' bad situation, but a short distance outside the sand village he was rolling around on the ground in pain. He held his head while large lumps appeared, sometimes in the shape of a hand or a foot, all around his body. He seemed to be rather occupied with his physical pain. He had helped them once before and now couldn't push himself to jump into saving them again. The Wheel Girls were on their own; and fate was going to have fun with them…

XXX

Although Sheena's transformation wasn't quite as rapid as Gilligan's was - as far off as they were from each other. Gilligan had her arms still wrapped around Kakashi, he could feel her growing. Getting taller, filling out against him in ways that – if Yukari were near and of sane mind – would drive her mad with rage and jealousy. Although the jounin couldn't see it; he could feel a rather attractive young teenager that had her arms wrapped around him – tightly. And luckily for him, he couldn't see a large number of bumps that were starting to appear along Gilligan's skin, some of them moving, though an odd shape did pop up on the back of her hand.

Kakashi would smell a rather…familiar scent, one that he had smelled about a week ago when he'd been captured. Its purpose was to light his body aflame with lust, making it hard for his mind to resist, assuming he was going to. Gilligan leaned in, chest pressed against his back, and whispered seductively into his ear.

"I need you…sooo…baaad Kakashi-sensei."

And only moments before Gilligan exploded with change, Wydra blushed red like a beet and spoke to Usagi:

"No…externally, uhm… I think I'm…on my…" The confused girl stopped, extremely uncomfortable with the words, and a little distracted as she felt something welling up inside of her.

Usagi, being unprivileged to know the Wheel Ninja as well as Yukari had come to, looked at Wydra, then to Gilligan and Kakashi. Gilligan was pressed firmly – now with a budding chest slightly bigger than her cousin's – against the jounin's back. Wydra then muttered something to her which brought Usagi's mind slamming down into reality.

"On your what? Just how old…WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

"Gilligan-chan…" Kakashi's masked face had turned from neutral to caring – something normally reserved for those special women in his life: namely his previous team mate, Rin; his long-deceased mother; and his Yukari-chan. "What…what are you saying, Gill-chan?"

The Sharingan jounin was momentarily thrown off balance by the feel of Gilligan's plush chest pressing against his lower back.

"Kakashi-sama?" Usagi turned to him in confusion. It was well know to the Uzaruki cousin that this jounin had special standing with her cousin's life; and now was confused by the verbal betrayal Kakashi gave to Gilligan.

"I've been a veerrrry bad girl, Kakashi-senpai." Gilligan spoke slowly, her tongue licking just under his ear a moment along his neck. "And I need you…" she said as one hand grabbed his crotch suddenly and firmly, but not tightly. "…To teach me how to be right." She'd turned him around, slowly as her body rubbed and grinded against his, to look in his eyes.

As she spoke, the mist would continue to waft all around the two of them. She used one hand to turn him, the other continuously rubbing through his pants all along his bulge.

Wydra's vision clouded over and she took a few gasping breaths, feeling her body alight with a sudden energy, before passing out and falling over onto Usagi.

Usagi cried out as she caught the transformed girl and allowed her head to snap up as Sand ninja leapt unto the scene. Usagi was about to prove her worth as potential Uzaruki Heiress status.

"You six there, unless you want to be answering to the Kazekage and the Hokage themselves, I advise you to follow my next orders – and think of the why of them later. I want two of you to disable – unharmed – the girl currently attach to the Hatake ninja and try to disable Hatake-san as well. We are under siege from an enemy genjutsu and I have my hands full with this genin!"

The six Suna ninja – eyes growing wider as the listened to the bi-colored red-eyed kunoichi whose story floated around some of the higher-classed Sunagakure brothels – nodded to each other as they leapt into action. One of them took out a Sleep dart and sent it flying into Gilligan's neck.

Another one, leaning close into Kakashi's personal space, clumsily brought a kunai up into the jounin's peripheral vision, hoping to induce a reaction. A third Sand ninja moved over to help Usagi hoist up an unconscious Wydra; as the fourth assisted the kunoichi to her own feet.

"Good, now I would love for myself and my team to be taken to a medical center right away." Usagi watched with frigidly cold eyes as Kakashi snapped out of the mist-induced lust that Gilligan was subconsciously emitting.

"So nice of you to join us, Hatake-san." Usagi's voice was brittle enough to make the Sand ninja cower slightly.

"…" Kakashi said nothing as he easily broke the lazy attack of the Sand ninja…broke the attack and the ninja's wrist. "You better have a jounin-class explanation for provoking this situation, Uzaruki-san…" Kakashi, it seemed, was on the far side of angry – both at the unfortunate situation between him and Gilligan, and the fact that an ally had attacked him for reasons unknown to him.

"Don't touch her…" Kakashi bit an order at the Sand ninja that moved to pick up a sleeping Gilligan. Kakashi himself bent down to retrieve the fallen Wheel Girl and nodded stiffly to the Sand ninja as they escorted them to the Medical Center located in the village.

Heading to the med-center was the best thing Usagi could do now, since Hani, their medical ninja, was en-route to the same place.

Gilligan's body lolled in Kakashi's arms limply, though the transformation hadn't gone away quite yet. If nothing else, the bumps along her body were only getting worse, but the quickened age was reversing, although slowly. To anybody that could sense chakra, Wydra seemed to be building up a lot of it, though also slowly; as she was currently unconscious.

Usagi sighed mentally to herself as she retained her command-status. She was acutely aware that Kakashi – if the rabbit-summoning kunoichi thought long and sharply about it – truly belonged to Yukari. Not that Usagi was privy to the inner workings of Naruto's sensei's status with the bird-summoning Yukari. She just knew the lack of sexual prowess that her main-branch cousin exhibited was enough to send Usagi into anger fits at times. Usagi pinned Kakashi the one to solve Yukari's intimate problems.

But that was in the past and this was now; as she marched proudly behind the group of Sand ninja that led them to the tan, copper and mauve colored medical building that sat round and squat next to the Kazekage building.

"Greetings, Yukari-chan." A masculine, even voice nestled into her ear as they entered the building.

Kakashi simply glanced silently at her as if to say: 'You took command here, follow through.'

Turning to see the green, black-rimmed gaze of the Kazekage, Usagi took a step back in pre-programmed fear. Gaara stood before her as the Kazekage – and had mistaken her for her cousin. That in itself, pissed her off – just what was so damn popular about her idiot cousin that instilled the heiress's name on so many lips.

"I'm not Yukari, Kazekage-sama…"

XXX

Sheena smiled, straddling Kankuro quickly and leaning in towards his face. Before her lips made contact with his, she had a slightly evil look in her eyes. She kissed him almost forcefully, her tongue pressing against his lips, he could feel some of the chains sliding past his body and into the ground. The second any of the ninja stepped close enough to make contact, they would be thrown away or yanked into the ground.

This close, he could also feel her building up more chakra. It seems she'd just inherited a few family traits, one of them being the ability to always get what she wanted. She slid her body against him, grinding against it slowly for a minute in a wave while she pulled her pants down, leaning to the side and breathing against his neck, lustily into his ear.

It seemed that pants, aside from the currently-missing helmet, were the ONLY thing she wore. She slid upward along his body, her slightly ample chest now pressed against his face, her toes hooked into the room of his underwear. It would take either a lot more ninja than there currently were, or more powerful, but what was, would likely not be enough. Sheena was seconds, motions, away from getting Kankuro.

"As lovely as you are, miss, I can't… – gulp - …allow this to proceed…" Kankuro swallowed with difficulty as Sheena was plastered all over him.

"Awh, Kankuro-chan, this scene is soo cute…" Temari's voice echoed from above them. The group – Sheena included – turned upward to see Temari; the third of the Suna Siblings; standing on the lower lip of the cliff's canyon next to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru Nara was currently in the Sunagakure for ambassadorial call. He had received a missive from the Hokage explaining the situation with the Wheel Nin and the mission given to Kakashi and Yukari – saying to expect them in Sunagakure. Since word came of the attack on the Konoha escort outside the village borders, Shikamaru had slid into action, trying to solve the problem of what had happened to his friends.

Having received word of location of all the Konoha and Wheel Ninja, the official chuunin from the Rookie 9 had found the third to last member that was sent flying by the vine-eye.

"Heh, how troublesome women are…" His comment gained him a fist to his shoulder as Temari scowled at him.

"Allow, maybe not. But that's not gonna stop me, because we both know." Sheena slid his underwear off with her feet, brushing her legs against him. "How badly…" she lowered herself down, brushing her crotch against his in the process without quite being entered. "

"We both want this…and nothing is going to stop me…" she said as she looked into his eyes, her eyes momentarily gaining a hard look.

It would seem another family trait she'd gotten, this one from her older brother, was a strong command over earth-style jutsu. One she demonstrated by reaching one hand back and pulling a dome of earth over the two of them, blocking them off from the rest of the world. "Now we can have as much fun as you want." She licked his lips as she spoke.

Kankuro, having been shut off from the world, gasped this girl took command of the situation. It was weird as heck for this kind of thing to happen, but it was his darkest fantasy for it to happen exactly this way. Being a puppet master, he often wondered the scenarios of being with someone with chains. Sheena and Reena were now lathering themselves over his half-nude body. However, his brain was still in control; with his body rebelling: Kankuro opted to take the easier way out: playing puppeteer.

Sheena smiled, grinding herself against him, her crotch against his to build heat and get started. She grinned as she saw a planning look come across his face. She didn't want that, and knew that most men had a very hard time concentrating if she did this. This, of course, was to wrap her arms around him and lower herself down onto him, Pushing him inside of her slowly, carefully, wanting the moment to last as long as possible as she whispered into his ear. "Do you like the way you feel inside me?"

"Holy shit…" Kankuro fairly near the end of his jutsu to switch himself with a puppet when the girl thrust herself onto him. The feel of her tightness was exquisite and it threw him off enough to stay where he was.

Unfortunately for Sheena, Kankuro still had control of his brain as he used his puppet chakra to manipulate her chains into unraveling from around him. Then, sitting up enough to allow the mummy-wrapped item on his back to unwind itself into Karasu, the Crow, Kankuro quickly threw the girl off of him as Karasu pinned her within its arms.

"Look, girly, I know wanting it is fine, but forcing yourself on others is not fine." Kankuro was such a liar. "You want to do it properly or it won't work for nobody." He was switching gears here; as he took control. "I'll show you what I mean…"

Working his fingers, he brought Karasu and Sheena closer to him as he smiled with his purple kabuto-painted mouth. "Girls more like it here, like this…"

Bringing the girl up to his mouth, Kankuro settled Karasu in a position that allowed Sheena's legs to drape over his black-clad shoulders. Then, lifted her up slightly, he leaned in and darted his tongue over her inners thighs.

XXX

Meanwhile, outside the earthen dome, Shikamaru face palmed himself as girl proceed to strip Kankuro of his pants and under garments. The girl he had been sent to retrieve had used an earth-jutsu to separate herself and Kankuro from them. Shikamaru's face turned red as he looked down at the other, confused and mildly concerned Sand ninja that stood around the dome of earth.

"Aren't you going to do anything, Temari-san?" He would turn and ask the spiky-haired female.

"No way, Kankuro's strong enough to get himself out of this…if he even wants to." Temari grinned slyly to the Nara boy. "Wanna make out too?"

"…" Shikamaru's face turned even redder as Temari offered to mimic the scene most likely taking place within the dome that entrapped Kankuro.

XXX

Shozaku raised an eyebrow at the momentary setback, before a smile spread so widely across his face it should have been impossible. He looked down at Yukari, on her knees before him but at the moment facing the other way; her clothes in poor shape, her body bleeding and sweaty and her positioning most…delicious. He still held onto one of her hands, and kept it so as he stepped around her, and turned to face her so that his crotch was at head-level with her.

Given his own state, and the fact that his own pants were a bit torn up she could see, and feel against her lips if she leaned but one inch forward, the massive growing bulge in his pants.

"Yukari, you seem to be going down on me. I think you need something to…re-energize yourself…" He licked his lips as he looked down at her. Ever so slowly, he'd tug on her hand backwards and bring her closer and closer to the barely-covered-by-under-wear tip of him.

"Yummy…so big…" Yukari chuckled softly to herself as her left leg continued to act like jelly. The fall she took from the flying piece of rock had marred her left side up enough to need medical attention before too long. As it were, she was bleeding slowly from multiple wounds on her left arm, hip and leg.

That was put on the back burner, since the arousal ran rampant through her curse-marked system. Leaning in enough to let her lips touch the tip of the bulge in his pants, Yukari smiled as she darted her tongue out to lick it once – getting a feel for the upcoming fun.

In a strange show of muscles, manliness and many hours of practice, Shozaku flexed a few of his lower muscles and his underwear ripped, freeing his bulge from its cloth-prison, brushing against Yukari's lips for a moment if it hadn't lightly smacked her cheek. Shozaku had let go of her hand and was running his hands through her hair, scratching as he went, his hands curling around her locks, pulling slightly but not enough to hurt…too much.

Yukari, still falling deeply into the effects of her curse mark and the feedback from the three Wheel girls, smiled broadly as she gazed upon the manliness of Shozaku.

"Wow. That's a first…" A first for what, she didn't incline to comment. But she leaned in once again, placing her lips on the revealed shaft tip of her Gambler-san. Kissing softly twice – as if to get a feel for the action – she proceeded to slide the rod into her mouth, getting her first taste of man in her life.

Slowly – almost painfully for the Gambler – Yukari allowed her tongue to caress the sides of his rod, taking in the salty, hot taste of him; and leaving a growing pleasure behind.

Shozaku closed his eyes, leaning his head back for a moment as he enjoyed, or rather savored, the feeling of Yukari's lips wrapped around him. It felt better, his smile turning into a bit of a smirk, as it came to him that he was the first man that ever had the pleasure of entering her mouth like this.

A few old tricks came to mind, ones he'd left behind when he'd agreed to travel with Kentarou; tricks that would be useful on Yukari here. One hand still flowing through her hair, the other traced its way along from the top of her head to her lips, charging her with small bits of chakra. It would leave a delicious tingling on her lips, something that would only continue to grow and get better the longer she worked his shaft.

"Yukari, that feels sooooo…damn…GOOD. Have you ever done this before?" He knew the answer; he just wanted to see what her response would be. Or did he?

Yukari's mouth curled into a grin as the tingling on her lips startled her with pleasure. Constricting her mouth more; she brought her hands up to his hips to steady herself. Her senses were spinning out of control as her brain slowly worked through on what she was doing. That tongue of hers continued to work around Shozaku's rod as she began to suck on his tip.

XXX

As slowly as it had built, it reversed and much of the chakra that had been building up in Wydra was released. She had gotten feedback from Sheena, who was expecting to get it any second now with the most powerful man she could find, and Wydra did the same as she almost violently regained consciousness.

A sudden blast of chakra would come out; blowing away those that couldn't react in time and almost attacking Gaara's Sand-shield in an effort to whittle it down. Immediately following the attack, Wydra boosted herself towards Gaara with a mighty leap, her mind momentarily gone and locked away by her disorientation and body's lust, to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him full on the lips. Her legs locked around his waist.

Although not as severe, but much quicker, as her companions she had also aged a bit. Probably not into a range Gaara might be comfortable with, but she was decently attractive.

"WHOA!" Usagi, the surrounding Sand ninja and the medical staff said as suddenly teenaged Wydra penetrated Gaara's absolute defense and landed a kiss on those lips that belonged to the Kazekage.

Gaara, not being a person to facial show emotions, lifted his face in surprise as the girl before him leapt onto him and gave him his first kiss.

Usagi, looking to Kakashi for help; acted in sync as they both lunged forward to extract Wydra from Gaara. The Kazekage, still reeling from the fact that Usagi was indeed not Yukari, stood stunned as the situation grew more and more bizarre.

A glowing symbol in the shape of a wheel lit up on the ground at Wydra and Gaara's feet, sending up a column of light around the pair to knock away Usagi and Kakashi. The wheel continued to spin at a slow pace on the ground, with hints of other unforeseen defenses in the air.

Wydra kissed Gaara still, pushing her lips against his in hopes of gaining her tongue passage into his mouth, one hand moving down his back to squeeze his ass, while she used the grip her legs had on him to grind against him. The only thing that stopped her from acting faster was inexperience, but that wouldn't hold up for long if Gaara didn't free himself.

Gaara, having had enough of this weirdness, used the Shokaku Ichibi that he contained and summoned sand to whirl in between himself and the girl that was plastered to his body. An undeniable urge to taste blood welled to the surface and lances of sand whipped through the beam of light.

"Kazekage! Don't!" Baki yelled out, as the Sensei of the Suna Siblings saw those tell-tale signs of impending doom. "Hatake-san, I'm going to take that girl out, she's attacking our Kazekage."

"Don't…I've got this covered…" The Hatake ninja pulled out the scroll that Jake/Jack had given him and threw up his ninja band to free his Sharingan eye. Using that eye to read the scroll at near-instant pace, the jounin lowered the hand that had thrown his band up and bit the thumb; bringing it down to summon whatever it was that was written on the scroll.

The scroll Kakashi unveiled didn't summon, it had a rather odd effect. It lit up with a strange symbol, the only intelligible word being 'Devotion', and there was a thunderclap. After the sound had passed, chakra was visibly being sucked out of Wydra until she was no longer any sort of threat.

Unfortunately, or fortunately if they needed him calm, it also took a significant amount from Gaara because he'd been so close to her. If the scroll was allowed to finish its work, it would burst into flame and wither into nothingness.

Gilligan's body, however, wasn't on the rest bed on which Kakashi placed her…

The ninja within the room exhaled a long, held breath as a female med-nin leapt forward to catch the falling Wydra. Gaara, having been sapped of some chakra, stepped back into the doorway as he recalled his sand back into the gourd strapped to his back.

"Kakashi-san, PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on!" Baki, Usagi and a few other Sand ninja asked simultaneously.

XXX

Shozaku opened his mouth slightly, licking his lips he opened his eyes and looked down at Yukari. He took his hand from her hair a moment to pull her hands a little further around him on his side, so she could still balance but her face would be naturally closer to his base. His hand moving from charging her lips with pleasure-chakra to stroking ever so slightly along the top of her spine, sending a bit down her back. His goal was to give her a good kind of chill and have her straighten slightly so he could get a better view of her front as well as have her push it against his legs.

"Mmmmm, don't stop licking, my sexy Yukari-chan. You may not always use your lips but…god I love that delicious tongue of yours."

Yukari, having to shift her body forward, straightened her spine enough so her growing cleavage showed if viewed properly. Thoughts raced through her head as both pain and pleasure mixed into her nerves and senses. What would Naruto do…or even like. How about Kakashi or even Kotetsu or Izumo. Having been teasingly known as the Konoha Flirt in her younger years, Yukari had dated many of those male ninja that revolved around Naruto – and had even dated the Kyuubi-container herself that one lucky time.

But those thoughts were here and gone in an eye blink as the Uzaruki heiress's mouth darted completely over Shozaku's rod up to the base. Then, doing something that would make her ill-will bearing cousin utterly proud; Yukari manipulated her hair to snake up the Gambler's leg to curl hesitantly around those hanging sacks of his.

Shozaku's knees buckled slightly but he managed to stay standing, surprised by Yukari's lips suddenly sliding down his entire length; a little more so by the feeling of her hair massaging the rest of him. He had been trying to hold back, but he squirted a bit of what would make him so delicious into her mouth, his mouth open in pleasure.

"Ohh so tasty, Shozaku-san…" Yukari would mutter aloud as the shivering he sent down her spine flared her curse mark. The mark began to grown, spider-webbing out like breaking glass; only slower.

"Are you sure? Maybe you need a bit more before you can decide…" He wasn't going to last much longer, her going at it like this. As he couldn't have her go any farther down on him than she already was, his hands slid a little down her neck to the top of her torso, his fingers sending streaks and waves of pleasure chakra down her chest, straight into her nipples. He wanted her to feel as good doing this to him as he did with her doing it.

Yukari's curse mark bloomed into black, streaky lines that filled her back and engulfed both her lower and upper torso enough to send her into a sexual frenzy. Knocking Shozaku's feet out from under him, Yukari's mouth came off his rod. It wasn't left out in the sandy air for long as the glowing-eyed girl crawled up his legs and let her crotch grind heavily against the stiff thing.

Looking down into Shozaku's eyes, her glowing red eyes screamed the truth – she was utterly confused of what her curse-controlled body would do next. Either Shozaku act and put a halt to the whole situation before it spiraled out of control; or he would give her something else to focus on. The legacy that Kabuto had cruelly left was one that gave Yukari no control over her body in peaks of sexual intercourse.

XXX

Sheena's chains snaked slowly around Karasu, and lightly on Kankuro's legs. She didn't have any intention of stopping him, but she still wanted some level of control. One arm grabbed something on Karasu, her fingers scraping it as she gasped with surprise at a pleasure she'd never had before; while the other moving along the side of Kankuro's face as though just wanting to feel him.

"Feels…so good to be pleased…" she managed to say in moans.

Kankuro chuckled to himself as he knew he had to end this rather quickly or his Suna brethren would charge in to make the situation even more embarrassing. Manipulating his other hand into pulling his pants back on, Kankuro went full out on giving Sheena a well pleasured show. Sucking on her nether lips, Kankuro sent tiny strands of chakra into her; making her over heat into a climax.

It wasn't that he hated the act; on the contrary, he loved how she tasted and was trying to make up for the fact they both had raped each other; however willing both were. Kankuro felt shamed that she had taken her virginity out on a bum like him – Sheena was quite beautiful at the moment, but he was a Suna ninja and had to do business first. Sucking harder on her tender places, Kankuro let Karasu back off from them as the girl reached her climax.

XXX

Shikamaru turned to the Sand ninja that appeared seconds after Sheena put up an earthen dome to hide herself and Kankuro.

"Temari-sama, the reports state that all the Konoha and those they escorted have been found and taken to the Medical center. We are missing three, however, as Uzaruki-san and three others are out there."

"Great, thanks. I think we can attest to one of them…" Temari laughed and pointed to the earthen dome. "But enough of your slacking, you maggots, GO FIND THE KUNOICHI AND THE OTHERS!" Temari barked her orders. "Or the Kazekage will have our heads…on a platter!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The reporting ninja shivered in fear and left immediately.

"ALL of you!" Temari screamed further. "I've got things covered here."

"Right!" Jiyu and the remaining ninja left to go find the last remaining ninja on the list: Joma, Shozaku and Yukari.

Temari smiled to herself; not only would she save face for her brother – gaining a IOU over him, but the Suna kunoichi had managed to get well-wanted reaction from the Nara boy. It was worth it to push his buttons; and – even as surprising as seeing Kankuro stripped down to nothing; she had seen it all before on her brother – she managed to cover the embarrassment by harassing Shikamaru.


	8. Scroll 8

_**Scroll 8, Developments**_

Author's note: this chapter is rated NC-17 for intimate actions.

…

Shozaku was momentarily stunned by Yukari's sudden change and her trying to knock him off his feet. He ended up on his knees, his body heavily leaned back as she crawled up over him and grinded against him. He really enjoyed the feeling, and if it wasn't for her present state he wouldn't mind letting her continue. As rare as it was, some things had a tendency to bring out Shozaku's dominant side; this was one of them. He took a deep breath, and moved quickly. He slid out from under Yukari, pushing with his legs to get her onto her knees, then rolled around and stood up, putting his hand on her curse-seal.

Given the time and what he wanted to do, he couldn't do anything much or extravagant, but he did lock it enough so she wouldn't get any worse or out of control and made it so that it would be easier for him to mess with later if need be. As he did this, he pushed forward so that Yukari would be on her hands and knees in front of him, settling onto his knees behind her. Gambling hands slid up her legs, squeezing her ass, and settling on her hips with a good grip. He grinded against her from behind.

"You know Yukari; I've always thought you had a really nice ass…"

"For real!" Yukari's voice worked again as her mouth was free. "We've just met and you've shang-highed me to the Sunagakure and tell me that I have a fine ass?" She'd giggle, still dealing with her partial amnesia. "You know how to fish for sex, don't you, Gambler-san."

It mattered little as she was still overheated with pleasure Shozaku had zapped into her chakra system. Having had her curse mark shut down, Yukari's red eyes blinked as her system cooled a mere degree. She now was in control, but still wanting more.

"Huh? Gambler-chan, get your stick over here, I'm not done yet…" She licked her wet lips, still tasting the musky treasure he gave her throat. "I'm not done yet at all…"

She blinked again as she buried her hands into the warm sand, feeling her rear being gripped by this not-well-known Gambler. Yea, Amnesia sucked…like her…

Shozaku raised an eyebrow, slapping her ass with both hands and using it to stand himself up, walking around until he was in front of her once more. He knelt down until it was pointing at her face, directly at her mouth.

"Yukari…you talk too much sometimes…" he said as his hands ran back through her hair once more. He leaned forward, pulling her in slightly, until he was either pushing against her lips or the tip was in her mouth. "If you want it so badly…here you go." The hapless gambler sighed, enjoying the feeling of her mouth once more; debating on whether or not to take control himself this time or let her work her magic.

Yukari's mouth curled more into a smile as she shifted her legs forward, letting her nude rear sit on her heels as she reached, once again, for that stiff rod of the Gambler. Placing her open orifice back onto the wet appendage, she shoved it in her mouth as far as it could go, using the back of her throat to squeeze the tip.

Shozaku had had enough. He'd been without any for days which was unusual, so he'd already been pent up. He'd been trying to hold back so he could gain time with Yukari.

Then she started doing things he didn't expect, so that weakened him further, and he'd already gone on a bit longer than he should due to her curse-mark suddenly flaring up. He started to climax into her throat, pulling back just long enough so some of it splashed over her tongue before pushing it back as deep as it could go and letting it all go.

The entire time, one hand was on her head and the other was on her shoulder, sending waves of pleasure-chakra all over her body. He wanted her to associate this with a good feeling, hopefully giving him the chance to do this again, if not go further sometime in the future.

In an act that would assuredly fix things between her and her cousin, should Usagi be there to witness; the Uzaruki heiress allowed all of Shozaku's fluid to be swallowed into her system. The otherwise reserved kunoichi was enjoying the taste of him and took as much as she could, unable to stop the rivets that trickled from the corners of her mouth.

"Yum…such…thickness…" She didn't know what else to say as she pulled back to lick her lips. Then, looking up to Shozaku, she felt her system violently reject the gift. Leaning over to vomit what she just had swallowed, Yukari's eyes teared up in embarrassment and shame – her body wasn't used to this kind of salty intake and rebelled against it.

XXX

Breathing heavily, almost raggedly, Auron was slowly walking up towards the Sand village. He was covered in gashes, his body was mostly black right now, and he was moving with a limp as quickly as he could. He saw the faint outline of Temari, and a strange dome of earth, and tried to wave but lacked the energy. He couldn't call out because anything more than breathing was too painful.

He used the last of his energy to do a black-light. It was daylight, so people would be more likely to notice an absurd amount of darkness in the middle of a desert, which is what he did. It flared up momentarily, like a flare but the opposite, and he fell over, barely conscious.

XXX

Sheena's chains were the only thing holding her up now as Kankuro worked his puppeteer magic. She was holding on hard, her other hand digging into Kankuro's shoulder as she arced her back, her mind going blank for a moment as Kankuro's efforts came to fruition and the girl had the first orgasm of her life.

The scary part was, the chains didn't let go of Kankuro after that. If anything else, they only seemed to curl further around his legs while Sheena's mind was gone in a momentary euphoria. It might be about then that Kankuro would notice a little symbol high up on Sheena's inner thigh; the one for 'Darkness.'

Kankuro, having used Karasu and more puppeteer work, managed to bring down the top half of the earth dome and looked up at his sister as he gently brought Sheena into his arms; letting her bask in the afterglow of his work.

"Hey, can I have a blanket here, Temari?" Kankuro's face and body still betrayed him; the bulge back in his pants, but he spoke more. "Ninjutsu at six O'clock, Konoha idiot." He addressed Shikamaru as the puppeteer master spotted Auron and his inky black cover.

Sheena curled a bit, wrapping her arms around Kankuro and her legs around his waist. This time it wasn't sexual, just a way for her to hang onto him. Her chains did re-wrap back around her body as she leaned in close to whisper into his ear.

"I'm done for now…but not yet done with you." She nuzzled into his neck after she spoke, her arms getting a bit of a better, almost possessive, grip on him.

Kankuro rolled his eyes at Temari as she laughed, sending Shikamaru to investigate the collapsed ninja that was close by.

"You are most certainly done girly, I've used a paralyzing jutsu on you until we find out just what the hell is going on here." Kankuro was not only pissed at himself, the situation, and the timing of more Sand Ninja, but at Temari and Shikamaru as well – for them being there to cut short his new-found fun.

Standing up and nodding gruffly to the questioning ninja, Kankuro handed Sheena off to a female ninja and turned to the dog that was currently humping Karasu.

"What a dumb dog…" Kankuro sighed again and bent down to pick up the dog; assuming it was with the girl.

Sheena's eyes hardened; and a pair of chains once more wrapped around Kankuro's legs, even as she was handed over. Due to a jutsu she hadn't felt reach its full effects until just now, she couldn't move or talk all too well, but it was clear that she was pissed. More so in that the chains shoved the women she'd been handed to away. One lone chain was slowly dragging her back towards him and her puppy. It seemed forcefulness wasn't the way to go with her at the moment.

"What the hell!" Kankuro turned and looked surprised at Sheena dragging herself at him. Dropping the dog and reaching out to halt her advance, he scowled at Temari as she fell on her ass laughing.

"Shut the hell up, Temari, I'm serious!" Kankuro looked helplessly at the other Sand ninja as the girl, once again, leeched onto him.

XXX

Having fallen forward, Shikamaru would see that Auron's back was little more than messed up. It had the tip of a large spike in it, and in several places it looked like…eyes with teeth had just latched onto him. They weren't active, they were just stuck. The sand around him was quickly growing redder the longer he lay there.

Shikamaru called over a few of his Sand ninja allies and motioned to the unconscious ninja.

"What do you think of this?" He would ask.

Auron held his leaf-head band in his right hand; that would really be the only way to tell he was from the leaf village. There was the cracked remains of his ANBU mask strapped to his pants. He didn't wear it when on a mission like this, but he still kept it. His chakra spent, his body returned to its normal multi-colored nature. As it did so, the eyes on his back seemed to come to life, biting and slowly digging into him once more, causing his body to twitch with pain.

One of Kakashi's hounds came running into Shikamaru's view as the chuunin sighed and ran a hand over his slicked back hair. It was so troublesome being a chuunin.

"Alright, if you'd help Temari-san with the girl and meet me at the Medical center, I'll see to this one here." Shikamaru nodded to the quiet sand ninja as she angled back towards Temari, Kankuro, Barokendo and Sheena and Reena.

"Such a waste of a nice day…" Shikamaru sighed and made to kick off the offending eyes on his fellow ninja's back.

The eyes came off easily enough; shriveling into nothingness once they hit the sand. Auron himself remained passed out though. It seems that wasn't just a temporary condition. The most active thing about him was that he gripped the headband rather tightly, as though refusing to let it go.

XXX

Kakashi, Usagi and Baki all jumped in to aid the stumbling Kazekage.

"Kazekage-sama!" Baki inquired as Gaara's head snapped up and he ensconced Usagi; bringing her closer to his confused body. The black-rimmed eyes glared into red ones as inexperienced lips caught their second kiss ever.

Yamira blinked in surprise, looking around for a moment to see everybody else's reactions before moving in to stop this herself. She'd been there the whole time, but she'd let everybody else take care of it all, her head still trying to wrap-around the whole situation. She pulled Usagi away from Gaara, and gently pushed Gaara towards Baki.

"I think that one's yours to take care of, isn't he?" Yamari asked.

Usagi, having been terrified for her life as the once-psychotic killer of the Sand-now-Kazekage had drawn her in and kissed her full on the lips. She was not Naruto nor was she Yukari; both of who saw the possibility of goodness in Gaara. Instead, she was still dreadfully afraid of him…enough so to trigger 'morning' sickness and lose her meager lunch in the barely met toilet.

"OH MY GOD! I am quitting this mission due to the Kazekage wanting to kill me!" Usagi screamed at the males in the room. Kakashi sighed tiredly and brought his hand to his face. Usagi was worlds apart in personality to his Yukari-chan.

Snapping his head up and looking around to not see Yukari, Joma, Sheena, Reena nor Shozaku, Kakashi cursed to himself.

"Damn it, I knew this would happen; the enemy separating our strength." Kakashi muttered to himself; wishing either he had his Team 7 with him or Genma; other males he was comfortable working with. Hani wasn't around either, another minus.

"Summoning no Jutsu." Kakashi summoned his hounds and ignored the glare of the now over-crowded room. Three hounds plus Pakkun sat, ready for orders.

"Yo, boss, didja girl ditch you again?" the pug's tired face tilted sideways to look at the people in the room. "Uhm, why is she puking her guts out in there?"

Kakashi paused to look at a problem he would address momentarily. "That's not Yukari, Pakkun. You know that…"

"Right, she does smell different." Pakkun stated the now obvious. "So, what's the problem?"

"I need you to find some missing ninja for me, namely Yukari…"

"Yukari-chan, right boss?" Pakkun interrupted.

"Shikamaru and Temari…" Kakashi's glare of doom shut his dog up as the jounin finished his statement. "The four of you are to split up and search the entrance of Sunagakure. GO!"

Leaving no room for talk, Kakashi ordered his hounds to begin immediately: which was excellent timing; for more Sand ninja entered the room carrying Hani; laying the woman on a medical bed.

Wydra woke up herself, as everything came flooding back to her. Moments later, Usagi would have a bathroom buddy as Wydra puked her guts out alongside the rabbit-nin.

"Dang it, Wydra-san, what's wrong with you?" Usagi finished vomiting and wiped her mouth on an offered towel. "Thanks Med-nin-san." The Rabbit-Lady said to the female Sand Med-nin.

"Kakashi-san, PLEASE tell me the Kazekage isn't going to kill me…" The red-eyed cousin of Yukari sighed as she refused to look anywhere near the doorway – the vestibule had Gaara retained in its frame as the Kazekage was leaning against Baki as a medical ninja examined his eyes.

"No, Usagi-san, the Kazekage is not going to kill you." Kakashi exhaled evenly. "Nor is anyone else going to attempt your life. I will, however, tell the Hokage of your attempt to abandon your mission if you seriously consider doing so."

"You're not joking are you, Sensei-san?" Usagi's eyes turned uncertain as the jounin sat down on a bed, looking at her with an eye unreadable.

"No, I'm not. I'll also remember to tell the Hokage of your pranks against Yukari-chan…it could be considered insubordination against your betters." Kakashi had brought his frustrations out now and intended to address them. "If I catch you once more acting against Yukari in any way, I shall send you back to the academy." Using his intimidation voice, Kakashi didn't at all mean it; but Usagi didn't have to know that.

"NO!" The kunoichi blanched in horror. "I will not go back to that kid-brat-infested place!"

"Good then, we understand each other." Kakashi lazily turned to look at Hani's unconscious form. "No more pranks against Yukari-chan and I'll most likely forget the whole thing."

Usagi stood up, wobbling on her feet as she turned to help Wydra up. Yukari's senshi wasn't a push over like her own; Okamizu wouldn't threaten her like this.

XXX

Sheena didn't have much control over own body, but she did manipulate the chains until she was wrapped around him again, glaring at Temari. She nuzzled once more against Kankuro, and promptly fell asleep in his arms. She'd been through a lot recently, but felt comfortable enough to lose consciousness, saying only:

"Baro's back…everything's okay now…" before she passed out.

Temari would suddenly find herself covered by an extremely large shadow. A voice, a very intimidating one usually only heard when speaking to demons, spoke.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't laugh at my sister's misfortune; and by appreciate: if you don't stop I'll kill you." The man had just risen straight out of the ground. His normally intimidating presence was made only worse by his arms being visible, the large demonic hands at the end of his limbs covered in various colors of blood, as well as the rest of his body.

That, and he seemed to be missing his trade-mark spikes. Though, there were still large holes all over his body. He was standing right behind Temari, looking down at her with murderous, yet exhausted eyes. It seems that whatever fight he'd been in was either over, or had been stopped. His right hand seemed to be closed over something though, and it kept moving as if whatever he was holding was struggling.

"Chill out, friend." Temari stopped laughing and stood up to her feet. "I was laughing at my sibling not yours." Shifting the huge fan on her back, the Sand kunoichi looked down at Kankuro. "You ok down there, lover-boy?"

"I'LL KILL YOU TEMARI!" Kankuro and the other ninja leapt up next to Temari and Barokendo.

"I assume this girl is your comrade?" Kankuro looked oddly at Barokendo; as if the puppet master willed himself to withhold the secret of making out with Sheena. Holding Reena, the other ninja merely nodded in fear at Barokendo.

"She won't see it that way." Baro paused as the one his sister was attached to, joined them. He had a rather confused look on his face, as much of it could be seen amidst the blood and bruises. He tapped Sheena on the head, waking her for moment.

"Why choose – through all your previous fears and scarring – him?"

Sheena blinked, looking up at her elder brother.

"He was nice to me…seemed to care more about me and doing something for me even though I thought I wanted something else; almost like everything father did was a lie. Made me feel like it's not…bad to be what I am…" She bent her head so she'd just be staring directly into Kankuro's shoulder. Barokendo took a deep breath and nodded, looking down at Kankuro:

"Later, when I have recovered and taken care of my other family business…" he said as he gave his hand a squeeze, stopping the struggling for a moment. "You and I will have words, Puppeteer…" He turned, walking off into the desert in Shikamaru's direction. As he passed them, he pulled the spike out of Auron's back and just kept going. The giant ninja swayed as he walked; as if sore from his unviewed battle. The scary thing was; Barokendo had promised both Yukari and Kankuro an 'exchanging of words' about his youngest sister, Sheena; the man was serious about it too.

"What?" Kankuro sputtered to his defense. "What the hell are you talking about, girl? You came onto me…" Red went well with Kankuro's purple face-markings as the older chuunin blushed as Sheena plaintively spoke of their joining. "You and your dog are crazy, what is your problem?"

"Oh Kankuro, be nice on the girl, she likes you!" Temari smiled and reached in to ruffle Sheena's longer, straighter hair. "Don't cha Chibi-san." The spiky-haired kunoichi moved to help Shikamaru hoist the unconscious Auron between themselves as they, Kankuro, Sheena and Reena all followed Barokendo back towards the village.

"I'm so going to kill you, Temari; would you just shut up!" The befuddled Puppet-Master raged uselessly.

"I'd help, Kankuro, if I could get away with it." Shikamaru opened his mouth. Temari sniffed and released Auron. The extra weight threw Shikamaru off, as he sagged under the unconscious ninja. He moved to fix that error and stood straight again.

"I see you've taken it upon yourself to carry your comrade, how brave of you, Shikamaru-kun!" Temari laughed at the black-haired Konoha ninja. Running ahead of them, Temari left Auron in Shikamaru's hands as the ninja boy sighed in aggravation.

"Troublesome woman…bleh."

XXX

Shozaku smiled as Yukari took it, and sighed as she leaned over and coughed it all back out. Then again, the kunoichi had never done this before so he didn't really expect her to go even this far. He looked around, quickly retrieving all of their things, and held out his shirt to her.

"Use this to wipe yourself off; I've got something you can drink since the taste doesn't agree with your stomach. Your things are right here when you're ready to go. I hope I wasn't too rough on you. You should let me return the favor sometime since I was the only one pleasured today." The gambler informed her; hoping she'd be okay.

"Hell, I'm sorry Gambler-san, really I am…I just…didn't know what to expect." Yukari's face blushed under his scrutiny. "Never done it before really…" Nor did reading bits and pieces of Icha-Icha Paradise help her any as she never managed to hold on to a copy long enough to learn anything important – such as how to handle man seed in the mouth.

"It was…interesting…" She'd wipe her mouth off with his shirt and struggled to stand. "…oh hi, Pakkun-chan…how long have you been there?"

"Hi there, Yukari-chan…not as long as his stick if that's any measurement…" The pug sat there watching them without judgment as he had found the person Kakashi had sent him to find. "You should try that stuff on Kakashi-boss, lady, boss would love it-"

"SHUT UP!" Yukari made to kick the dog, but Pakkun was wise enough to read that her legs were in no condition to be of threat.

The dog merely stood up again – if the pug had even sat on his squat little rump – and panted at Yukari. "Whoa there, lady Kakashi would kill me if you broke something…"

Yukari swayed and landed softly against Shozaku's chest, growling at the pug. "Whatever, doggie. Let's go have…words with Kakashi as to why I'm here."

Yukari spoke of her partial amnesia. She was missing all of what had happened from the moment of first meeting Shozaku and Skiminachi at the Ichiraku Shack till she woke up in wounded status in the entrance of Sunagakure. The fall had shaken her head enough to give injury. A red-faced Yukari, a half-nude Shozaku and a pug all made their way off the top of the canyon and into the village.

Shozaku just laughed, reaching out an arm to help Yukari up and stabilize her when she went to kick Pakkun. The Gambler read her face enough to know that her lack of memory would be a future problem; one he had no clue of how to solve at the moment, but hoped a solution would form later.

"It's always interesting the first time, like most new things. Come on, we should probably get to the village like you were mission-ed to escort us to." Shozaku said as he started walking towards the village himself. He smiled, hoping the dog wouldn't tell Kakashi what he'd seen; or that Kakashi tried to kill him if the jounin ever found out. That would be a very weird fight indeed.

XXX

Wydra latched onto Usagi's arm for support, blinking in confusion as she wiped whatever was left from her mouth.

"What…happened? I don't remember much and everything feels kind of wrong…"

"You went boy-crazy and kissed the Kazekage…" Usagi blanched as Gaara now stared…coldly…at her as he stood on his own. "I think you might have some internal injury. Ah so good of you to join us, bitc…" Usagi's nose wrinkled as she turned around to face an entering Yukari, Pakkun and Shozaku.

"Oh…My GOD! For real!" the bi-red-eyed girl stepped over to Yukari and smelled her cousin's mouth. "Unbelievable!"

"Usagi-san, what did I say about pestering her?" Kakashi nodded gracefully as the trio entered the room. "So glad to see you two in one piece, nice work Pakkun."

"Hey boss, you should have seen the way I found them!" Pakkun opened HIS big mouth, dodging another kick-attempt from Yukari.

"Shozaku is horrible at first-aid." The Pug finished with a poof of being dispelled.

"What the hell is SHE doing here!" Yukari pointed to Usagi in fear; placing Shozaku between her and Usagi.

"Yukari-chan?" Kakashi's masked face smiled for a moment. The moment dragged out and the jounin grew concerned as his Yukari continued to show fear at her cousin's presence. "I promise Uzaruki-san is not going to kill you, Yukari-chan."

"Like hell she isn't…oh god…what is going on here! Who are they!"

The Uzaruki heiress pointed to the inert body of Hani, Yamira and Wydra's new feminine form. Yukari's lack of knowledge of the situation made Kakashi's face grow even sourer as he looked to Shozaku for an explanation.


	9. Scroll 9

_**Scroll 9, Amnesia**_

Shozaku gave Usagi a cold glance as she stepped over to her cousin. It was the kind of look Usagi might recognize as 'something good happened, it could happen again if you don't say anything, so don't cock-block me.'

The Gambler also gave a nod towards Kakashi, indicating he didn't want any problems between the groups. When Kakashi looked to him for answers, he just held up his hands in confusion.

"I know about as much of what just happened as you do if not less. I may have a low moral standing on some things but I would've tried to prevent this if I'd known about it."

"Known about what?" Kakashi looked absolutely clueless as Shozaku rambled on. The jounin had walked over to Yukari and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Your eyes are slightly glazed, Yukari-chan, are you ok?"

"I…I don't remember coming to Sunagakure, Kakashi-sensei…and definitely not with anyone here…" The kunoichi sagged slightly in Kakashi's grip. "I…last remember cutting off my chase when Konohamaru-kun pranked me."

Kakashi's eye went up in alarm as a short, Suna Medical Ninja entered from next to Gaara.

"Ok, I know you are guests of the Kazekage, but PLEASE! Everyone OUT OF THE ROOM! Those who aren't injured that is…" This Suna Medical Ninja was blindfolded – his eyes covered modestly with a tan strip of cloth – and had a bird perched upon his black-haired head.

Standing four feet, ten inches, the boy wore a long white overcoat that denoted him as a medical ninja. Underneath that was a pale green shirt and blue pants that went more towards the Konoha clothing style. His sandals too, matched those of Konoha rather than Suna. The pre-teen's belt had a Leaf symbol clasp; noting his ties with Konohagakure.

Usagi's eyes went up in great delight as she opened her mouth to say the boy's name. However, a patch of sand covered it as the Kazekage intercepted her word and spoke instead.

"Ah Tora-sama, I'm glad you are here." Gaara forced a hard look at Usagi telling her to not say anything at all. The girl, amazingly, understood and shut her mouth.

Just then, Barokendo brushed past the boy who just entered and moved towards an empty medical bed and opened his hand over it. He dropped onto the bed what appeared to be a body; bruised and beaten with a large gash on its forehead. The face seemed like a jigsaw puzzle of stitches and parts even before all of its current injuries, even though the body was small and looked to belong to a nine year old boy. Baro sighed, reaching one hand around at a sickening angle and tapping a symbol on the center of his back, before tapping a finger to his little brother's forehead.

The symbol, indecipherable between all of Baro's old and new injuries, gave a dim glow as chakra visibly flowed through his arms and into Jake's forehead. The body twitched for a minute as its wounds rapidly recovered. Jake then sat up, looked around, and everybody could feel a genjutsu fall over them. The only effect was that Jake now looked like he usually did: a completely covered in black-cloth nin.

"Oh great, another interesting subject, Kazekage-sama, I'm not in the mood to treat the whole Konoha's visiting mission-ninja…" the kid – acting like he wasn't blind – let the bird, a red-tailed hawk, do the looking around for him. "Kakashi-senpai, Yukari-san and Usagi-chan; greetings to all of you."

It seemed the boy knew at least three of them by name…was there a relation involved? The hawk looked oddly familiar; and if one had but to see the truth, the boy was an Uzaruki.

"Yukari-san, you can release the genjutsu now and lie on the bed…" the white-frocked boy muttered to himself as he stood next to Wydra and allowed the Hawk to inspect her. "You too, miss. Baki-sama, please bring that other woman into this room, as I would like to keep them together."

Yukari sighed painfully as she turned off her overlying skin genjutsu and showed the room her injured left side; which was still weeping blood.

The red-headed Yamira nodded and went over to a bed, sitting down on it and continuing to look around the room with a slightly clueless nature. She still didn't remember much, but did get a very large sense of familiarity from most of the people in the room.

Jake watched Tora before turning towards Baro: "How many? How many did it take?" He asked with a bit of hesitancy in his tone.

"Fifty-eight; the smallest was seven. One of them was a gatekeeper. And no…" Baro said as he looked around the room. "I don't expect anyone to understand what we're talking about. Jake, since your motives in many things are beginning to seem relatively unclear, you owe them an explanation." he kicked the bed as he said this to stir Jake out of a momentary spacing-out.

"Why? Can't you do it? You seem to know just about everyth-" Jake's tone began to get a little uppity, until he felt his brother's gaze harden on his back. Jake leaned back and spoke to the room at large as his body quickly healed itself.

"Oh, by all means, please share." Tora mused as he looked up from cleaning Yukari's wounds.

"What everybody might know is, three little girls just about mutated and went man-crazy. The reason is a slightly long one. There's a common link somewhere back in the families that rule the Darkness and Twisted villages. The Twisted ninja have kept their old ways strong, while the Dark shifted. but the Twisted are…wrong in all ways, such as when in life a person reaches adulthood. Their body mutates in un-natural ways and they...well, imagine that the normal amount of hormones a person gets at that age is a pin-drop; they'd get about a gallon. The reason it all happened at once is because, as a defense mechanism, my sister pumps chakra into anything she's attached to so it's harder to leave her. So…that made Yukari like a trigger to her and her two friends...so when the kunoichi started, so did they. And if you've paid attention, the rest makes sense. Speaking of which, where's Gilligan?" He said, tilting his head to look around the room.

Wydra blinked, walked slowly over to Usagi and tugged on her arm so she could speak into her ear:

"Can…I get something to clean up? I'm kind of…dirty. I don't mind getting examined but this…is going to be embarrassing soon…" Wydra wasn't damaged, she hadn't taken the fall too hard, and she was just on her period. She'd gotten ill because of the overwhelming sensations of waking up from a blackout and realizing what had happened, among other things.

Baro looked around before his gaze settled on Tora. The giant bowing his head and sighed.

"Another brat? This is starting to get old." He stood up straight, or as well as he could without bumping into anything, from the chair he was leaning on.

"Well Jake, one last thing I've gotta take care of at the moment. Discretion is the better part of your judgment today. Speak only when necessary. Since I'm gonna be gone for a few hours, she's on your watch for now." he said, nodding toward Usagi. He hadn't forgotten that he was going to be protecting her, even if she had. Jake just nodded, his body set seemed a little irritated, and sat there. His injuries seemed to have strangely healed up for now. With that, Baro walked out of the room, moving to exit the hospital.

Shozaku shrugged, turning towards the nearest sand-nin.

"Where's the closest inn, or wherever I can get a room for awhile? We've been through a lot and I think we should all get some rest before we do anything official."

"Of course." Baki looked to the Kazekage and he nodded.

"Yes, if you would follow Baki-san, he'll show you to your accommodations." Gaara moved outside the door and once again looked surprised as Temari, Shikamaru, Auron, Kankuro, Reena, Sheena and Jiyu entered the room. This, of course, sent the bird on Tora's head into a frenzy; making it chase out Kakashi, Baki, Shozaku, Usagi, Wydra and Temari out of the room.

"This is now a quarantined room for the injured! Shikamaru-sama, please put your person on the bed nearest the window!" the covered face of Tora still revealed his mouth, and thus he spoke.

"Geez, I know the drill, you brat." Shikamaru dragged Auron to the bed and placed the unconscious man on it. "Still playing the mighty doctor, I see, Tora-san…not my problem. Oh, hey there, Yukari-san. I'll catch up with you later, on news at home." The Nara boy waved briefly at her as Usagi helped Wydra exit the room.

Auron lay there on the bed, breathing slowly. his injuries seemed to have stabilized…or rather, they weren't getting any worse.

Shozaku had already followed Gaara out of the room, and then followed Baki as he'd show them to where they'd be staying for now. He laughed as everybody got chased out, shaking his head with amusement.

As Usagi and Wydra were chased out of the room, Jake got to his feet and walked out behind them as well. He didn't walk right behind them but he was pretty close by. He had his arms folded across his chest and seemed relatively annoyed, wishing he could be somewhere else right now.

Barokendo, noticing that other people were filing out of the room and the hospital in general, quickened his pace. He took the spike from a strap to his side and proceeded to shove it back through himself, where it would normally be. This particular spike went from his hip, up his side, and through his shoulder. He took a deep breath, and stepped outside.

The moment he exited the building, a large shadow grew over him. Moments later, he got jumped by something that could only be described as a mass of limbs and a tangle of parts, covering him in arms that pulled him to the ground, legs that wrapped around him, all the parts seemed to want him bound.

The giant managed to clap his hands together, performing one of his usual earth-jutsu and sinking himself and whatever was attached to him into the ground. And then there was silence on his end, the only mark that anything had happened over the two seconds it had taken place was an indentation in the ground. Jake blinked, raised an eyebrow, and spoke only:

"Oh…that's where she went…so…" Jake asked, looking up at the Sand and Leaf nin. "Where are we supposed to go for now?"

Baki led the Konoha and Wheel nin to a multi-roomed complex that Shikamaru was staying in. The Nara boy frowned severely as he saw Baki lead the ninja to the building.

"This is the Konoha Ambassador Building; built for the Leaf Ninja would visit from time to time." Baki had bid his Kazekage a brief message and led Kakashi, Shozaku, Usagi, Wydra and Jake to the second floor rooms. "This is where you'll be staying." The head-wrapped Suna jounin bowed to Kakashi. "I'll send news as soon as Tora-sama finishes his diagnostics of your injured."

"Why would you put that brat of an U-" Usagi opened her mouth again. Kakashi, knowing the full story of Usagi's younger brother – Tora Uzaruki – and his partnership with the Suna Ninja as their assisting Medical Ninja for the visiting Konoha nin; moved up next to the Uzaruki to smile at her.

"I'm sure that our Konoha secrets are safe with Tora-san giving them first aid, isn't that right, Usagi-san?" Having tightly fisted hands stuffed in his pockets, Kakashi nodded politely at Shikamaru and the rest. "I'm going to send a report back to home base; and if you would have time, Shozaku-san, we need to talk."

Baki, not being privy to what was going on or what was going to happen, smiled as he finished his job of escorting his guests to their rooms. With a bow at the waist, Baki left them in their rooms.

Usagi exhaled in annoyance and clasped Wydra by the hand and marched into the closest room and said:

"I'll cut anyone's balls off if they dare to enter." Then, dragging Wydra inside, the Rabbit-girl slammed and locked the door; expecting to administer a thorough clean up of the now budding Wydra. Shozaku nodded, yawning a little.

"Sure, we should talk in my office." he waved Kakashi into the room that Baki had led him too. While waiting for Kakashi to start up whatever it was he wanted to talk about, he reached into his pockets and started pulling out folders, various papers, blank parchment paper and writing utensils. Whatever he might act, Shozaku was still a leader and he knew what his responsibilities were, even if he shirked them from time to time.

Jake shrugged and leaned against the wall next to the door of the room that Usagi and Wydra were in. He kept his head leaned down, one hand over his face. He hoped this pose would come off as him just trying to relax, rather than people seeing him do a jutsu. He wasn't technically in the room, but he was still watching Usagi.

As a medical specialist, there wasn't anything about the body that really grossed him out, mystified him, or much that got a reaction out of him. He was just watching Usagi while his brother while his brother was gone, he paid no attention to what they were doing, just their safety.

XXX

Wydra smiled up at Usagi as she helped clean her up and get her properly dressed. A strange thing to notice was that the third of a wheel symbol for the seal was gone from her back.

"Thank you, Usagi-sama…"

"Pfft, no problem, Wydra-san, us girls need to stay presentable to the world. I am just…confused on how you've grown up like a weed in only hours."

Usagi truly didn't know any of the Wheel nin, and so took Wydra's transformation with a shrug of shoulders and moved on with life. In the ninja world, freaky things had a habit of showing up.

"The bed's there if you need to sleep." Usagi looked out the window and wondered just where Kentarou was now. This mission was growing more and more bizarre for her and now, in growing inevitability, her younger brother would – sure as water was wet – report her condition to the clan. Usagi had no idea how to stall Tora-chan from discovering her pregnancy.

Wydra nodded, moving to lie down in the bed. The next moment, Usagi would hear a shriek and feel Wydra slide around her, pointing at the bed. Laying on it was the lesser-seen and little known third brother, Jakk. His hood was drawn over his head as always, and his gloved hands were wrapped around his torso as if he'd been there, intending to sleep. He didn't appear to be breathing though, but he was definitely watching them. How'd he get in there?

Without screaming like Wydra had – hoping her threat of castration remained a deterrent to the other Konoha/Wheel males in the next room– Usagi stalked over and shoved the boy off the bed.

"Who the piss are you, kid?"

XXX

Kakashi turned to Shozaku and looked serious. "Yukari-chan didn't seem to know how she got here…or any of the mission so far. What happened to her out there?"

Whether or not Kakashi knew, or suspected, the naughty things his Yukari did with Shozaku; it didn't show in his tone.

"The same thing that happened to most of us. We all crashed and hit the ground. She just hit it on her head a little harder than the rest of us, so her memory got a little garbled for a bit. I found her, and it took me a few minutes to figure out which direction we were supposed to be going in. I don't know why she kept her injuries hidden, if she hadn't I would've been inclined to do what I could on the spot. I can't fix wounds, but I can at least bind them to stop bleeding."

If Kakashi didn't ask about any of the naughty things he might have done with Yukari, Shozaku wasn't going to break the news. While Shozaku spoke, since it seemed like he wasn't going to be accused of anything, he began to spread out papers on his bed, looking things over, making notes on a piece of paper in his hand.

Kakashi hadn't said anything more as he sat down on the bed, removed his ninja gear and placed his face in his hands. His spiky silver hair ruffled some as he just sat there.

Shozaku paused. He assumed now that Kakashi was still here that they were either going to be sharing a room, or that Kakashi had something else on his mind. He sighed, putting down his paperwork and pulling a bottle of sake out of F-ing nowhere. He poured Kakashi a tall shot-glass of it, setting it down near him, and poured himself one.

"Alright, what's going on up there?" he asked, tapping Kakashi's head with the bottom of the bottle. Kakashi looked up from his hands and smiled from under his mask.

"I'm just glad my Yukari-chan is alive, I would be severely put out if anything had happened to her." The jounin meant it too, as his visible eye had a deadly glint in it. "Those Darkness and Twisted Ninja have pestered her one too many times."

"Kakashi, their leaders are gone; hopefully dead. James is the one that seems to be running the show now, and I have no idea what those triplets are doing with the remnants of the Darkness ninja. If you plan on jumping Barokendo, you better find him now while he's weak, because on any other day you wouldn't stand a chance. Now James…you're smart, so you might be able to play on his level. The few times I fought him I had a hard time keeping up. And believe me, I know what it's like to fear for somebody's life when faced with those freaks…" Shozaku sighed, thinking of times passed.

"If you plan on doing anything about them, better get your information from me first. You're not thinking of doing anything stupid just yet, are you Hatake?"

"I'm not about to run out and attack them, if that's what you accuse me of doing." The way Kakashi stressed the 'accuse' word gave alert to Shozaku that the jounin knew something more was wrong with Yukari than amnesia. "Yukari-chan is, after all, your solidifying link to Konohagakure. I doubt the Hokage would give you such valuable ninja as an escort otherwise."

The Hatake was deadly when it came to addressing threats that set their aim on his Yukari. She was more than his temporary genin student now; and had been ever since the Sand-Sound Invasion when he rescued her from Kabuto.

"Yukari-chan seems to be embroiled in the middle of this; and so I'll support her as long as she needs it; and thus, support the Wheel Nin."

"I'm not accusing…" Shozaku stressed the word as well, stating that he wasn't going to let on to anything if Kakashi didn't start. The first step to trouble, or getting caught, was admitting anything had happened. "…you of anything. I just know what a person is willing to do when someone they care about is in a bad situation, and I'd rather somebody like that didn't die due to a lack of information." But to steer away from a potentially tense situation, he kept going on a different subject.

"Well, let's hope that particular part of her innocence doesn't have to be broken any time soon; it's never good on anybody. But this philosophy is something that can be discussed another day. Yukari's in the hospital, you should either rest there or here, but rest is what we all need right now." he said, downing his shot glass, cringing, and putting all of the paperwork in a folder.

"You're right…I'll go make my reports and check them against Shikamaru's. I'll be about in the building if you need me." Kakashi stood up and looked at the glass on the table; pondering. "Keep that there, if you will, my good man. I'll be back for it later."

Then the jounin was out the door, busying himself with jounin things.

XXX

Sheena woke up, eyes opening slowly as she lifted her head from Kankuro's shoulder and observed the room around her. She blinked, realizing the weight she'd been putting on him as he walked, and noticing there was a bed nearby so she crawled off of him and onto it. Though, there was still a lone chain wrapped around his leg, tugging him towards the bed as though she wanted him to join her.

Tora, indeed an Uzaruki, nodded politely to Yukari as took out his cutting tool and removed the remnants of her pants.

"Hi there, Yukari-chan!" Tora finally dropped the professional act and smiled his twelve-year old boy smile. "I'd ask how you're doing but I guess this blood tells it all."

"Ugh, just shut up, Tora-kun." Yukari winced as she, too, dropped a tough-girl act and exhaled tiredly. "I think I have amnesia."

"You think?" Tora's hawk, Tai, cocked a sharp eye on her. "That's real funny, Onee-san." For once the pre-teen boy was serious as Tai scanned over her half-bloody, partially nude body – nothing he hasn't seen before. "I'd use chit-chat here, but I really need you to sleep." With that, Tora pinched a neck nerve and dropped Yukari into sleep as the other awaiting Suna med-nins moved in to help.

Giving his medical mumbo-jumbo orders to the others, Tora moved to Yamira and did the same for her, telling her to not be afraid and he'd fix her right up. He wasn't sure how to handle a Suna Nin/Non-Suna Nin as Yamari was registered as. The red-headed woman sported signs of Suna, yet had come in as a Wheel kunoichi – just for the written records.

The woman also sported signed of a head blow; dazed eyes and lack of solid evidence to basic questions; such as name, what was eaten the day before, how did you get here. However, hers was much worse than his older cousin Yukari's. The woman didn't even know her name.

Tai, the hawk Tora used his basic level Akashingan on, took in much greater detail than normal human eyes. The trick was helpful to see more of the scene at once; which brought Tora up next to a palm-covered face of Kankuro as the hapless ninja sat in a chair; still chained to Sheena.

"Why the hidden face, Kankuro-senpai." Tora asked the Puppet-master before Tai the hawk turned to view Sheena with sharp, black eyes.

"I've had a hell of a day, Tora, leave me alone." Kankuro didn't lift his head to show the world his blush.

Yamira smiled down at Tora. She seemed mostly fine, her injuries were acute enough that they affected her memory severely, but she wasn't otherwise injured. She reached out a hand and ruffled Tora's hair, giggling for a moment.

"How did one so young get to be so knowledgeable?" She turned, noticing Kankuro and Sheena. "Wow…I've heard men talk about being chained down but this is new…"

If the Uzaruki boy examined her further, Tora would find that Yamira's body temperature was much higher than a human's should be. What she seemed fine with were levels that would have most in bed with a fever.

Sheena, not getting Kankuro to join her on the bed, rolled away from it and sat in his lap, curled up against him, and fell back asleep.

"Tch, I can see what you mean, Kankuro-senpai." Tora had finally inspected Auron and administered bandages on the wounds and an IV drip of fluid into the man's system. "How'd you get the chick on the chain?"

"He didn't get me on the chain, those have been here for years. I got him on my chains though. He doesn't seem to mind." She murmured, half-asleep, as she wiggled against Kankuro to get a little more comfortable.

Yamira smiled and lied back in the bed. She kept a curious glance on Tora, as if he somehow sparked a memory in her head.

"You...remind me of something…"

"Indeed, Kankuro-senpai. She's got you bad." Tora smiled.

"LIKE HELL SHE DOES!" Kankuro yanked his face away from Sheena as the dog just rolled over onto his feet. "You Konoha Ninja are all crazy!" Kankuro hissed; but did nothing to extract Sheena from him. Suddenly, an idea hit Kankuro upside the head.

"Look, girly, why don't you tell Tora here what you want…he'll be more than happy to give you whatever you need!"

Kankuro, seventeen going eighteen, was possibly seven years too old for Sheena; whereas Tora was nearly the same age. Kankuro had no prior information on Sheena before she had transformed from a kid to pre-teen; and so he didn't know her exact age.

Her only response to what Kankuro suggested was to slightly tighten the chains on him, turn her head and glare at Tora as if daring him to further anything Kankuro had said.

"He's a bit too much like my brother in some ways. and besides…you're nicer. You gave me what I needed earlier anyway, and you haven't really said you don't want me." She left out the part where that didn't matter. She had picked him, so that's what she planned on getting. Only a bit more of a…permanent dismissal, in whatever form Kankuro could give, would discourage her.

Tora's hawk Tai just crooked down and looked Sheen in the face quizzically, cocking his head to the left.

"Kankuro-senpai! The girls hate me, see?" Tora's voice was saddened as he retrieved Tai and placed the bird on a nearby metal stand. "Besides, I'm much too busy to be a normal boy. I promised the Hokage to behave; and taking a Suna ninja's girl is not behaving. I hate her anyway; she's much too beautiful and crazy."

"And I'm supposed to LET her cling to me!" Kankuro shouted.

"Kankuro-senpai, you're older, you'll figure it out." Tora sighed and turned to Yukari; whose left side had been cleaned and bound. Nodding to the older Suna med-nin, Tora allowed them to push the bed away from the wall to give him space to stand at Yukari's head.

"Sheena-sama, if you can allow Kankuro-senpai go; I can administer help to Yukari-chan here. My jutsu isn't allowed to be seen by Suna ninja outside medical purposes."

Sheena shrugged, getting to her feet. The chains retracted themselves from Kankuro, wrapping themselves once more around her body, though she did have a politely good grip on his hand with her own. Since it seemed Kankuro wasn't allowed to stay and she didn't feel in any bad condition, she was just going to leave with him. She heard the sad-tones Tora spoke with, she just didn't know him enough to care, as she wasn't that type of person. At the moment, she felt like she had what she wanted. She also wasn't the type that was impressed or flattered by words; at least not when they went without actions.

"Bye, bye, Kankuro-senpai!" Tora smiled and Tai fluttered onto the boy's head to cock a focused eye on Yukari's sleeping face. Taro placed his hands on Yukari's closed eyes and opened his chakra paths.

XXX

The kid threw up his arms and made an exaggerated motion of falling off the bed, just…in the wrong way. Usagi had pushed him backward, his body gained a mist-like quality and he rolled forward off the bed, standing up and facing the door as it slammed open. Jake had his hands to the ground as if about to do something, then screamed angrily:

"PARA-DAMN YOU JAKK, I thought I told you to stay away!"

Jakk then started talking in sign language. Just regular hand-language, no jutsus or anything. He pointed at Usagi, then at Wydra, then back and forth between himself and Jake several times as he made hand signs. He ended his silent speech with his finger pointed accusingly at Usagi.

Jake sighed angrily, rubbing his temples. "I apologize, Usagi-sama, for my brother's strange intrusion. I have refused to talk to him so he knew the only way I would speak is if I thought he would continue to disrupt your life. He has a very…important, though awkward question he wants me to ask you. If I may?"

"Uh, yea, this better be good, since I'd hate to castrate kids…" Usagi's body stance showed her annoyance.

"Yeah, it'd be funny if that could happen twice." Jake said with a twitch, and an apologetic hand gesture towards Jakk. He sighed.

"Here it goes. Since I'm not experienced enough with women at that stage, I couldn't tell him myself. He wants to know how far along you are. No, I don't know exactly why, only that he seems to think it'll calm down our brother if the answer is…good, however it might be so."

"Pft." Usagi looked oddly at the two brothers. "Tell him it's none of his business, is it Wydra? Like a girl like me would tell two pipsqueaks like you something as important as that."

Usagi walked over and sat on the bed. "I will say that I'm not Yukari, so I'm not that dumb to say secrets like that."

Jakk took a deep breath and hunched over slightly, flexing his arms. Jake face-palmed, then flicked his forehead as Jakk un-hunched, looking as though he was about to stretch his arms. The two of them seemed to exchange places, Jake with his back to Usagi and Jakk standing in the doorway facing her, arms un-stretching. As he did so, a sound like a gunshot was heard and various needles were sent into the wall behind him, exactly in the shape Usagi was currently standing as if they had been meant to pin her to the wall. Jake then reached out and flicked Jakk on the forehead, and the boy disappeared. Jake turned towards Usagi.

"I'll see if I can find out why he needed to know, but he felt like the answer was important enough to capture you for and get it out somehow. I stopped him because I'm more afraid of my older brother, and his reaction at letting you come to any sort of harm, than my younger brother. I apologize for any of the disturbances our inner-family arguments have caused. I'll be outside the door until my brother gets back. You'll know, because he doesn't respect privacy and will promptly enter the room." Jake would step outside and shut the door unless Usagi stopped him with words or actions.

"Geez, you brats are perverts…can't a girl get privacy around here!" Usagi huffed and looked at Wydra. "Go to sleep…now!"

Usagi, following her own orders, threw herself into the second bed and wrenched the covers over her. Even though it was mid-afternoon, she felt like sleeping. "Or do whatever you want to do, Wydra-san. I'll be sleeping…"


	10. Scroll 10

_**Scroll 10, Nightfall**_

Author's note: chapter is rated NC-17 for mature acts.

…

The moon was bright and shining into the window that was set in the male side of the Konoha building. The wind was cool enough to need coats – but only if one was out and about in the dead of night. One of those people was known as Yukari Uzaruki. She stood atop the squat, tan and brown colored round roof of the Konoha Building. She wore nothing but a shirt and short, ridiculously short underwear. Her long, ankle-long black hair fell in sheets down her back and legs.

Before her, stood Gaara wearing his usual attire of the tan Kazekage suit and his sand-filled gourd on his back. His arms stoically crossed against his chest as his sleepless eyes stared into her red orbs.

Nothing had been verbally said yet but the kunoichi had but no choice to obey the Kazekage as he had entered her room at twilight and exhumed her from her sick-bed. She knew, deep inside her mind, that Gaara, too, was a pervert; a very well hidden one at that. He had it out for her blood ever since she had stood up to him as he was about to kill Rock Lee. Having all been genin – her, Lee and Gaara – they shared a twisted, broken bond of something that had yet to be titled.

Indeed, it anyone knew – Konoha or Suna – that the Kazekage had abducted her from her bed to force her to stand nearly naked in the unforgiving elements of the Suna night, people would be more terrified of the Bijuu container than they already were.

"Yukari…look at me…" Gaara's warm eyes narrowed as the kunoichi before him turned away to look – rather uselessly – at the sound Barokendo produced as he angrily stomped around in the floors beneath her feet.

"Hai, Gaara-sama." Those judgeless crimson eyes turned away from the roof tiles and entered, once more, into his green eyes. That's when he made his move. The sand that had been poking and teasing her since five minutes ago thickened into a formidable force and curled soothingly around her form; forcing her legs apart. Gaara's aim: to finally get a taste of her blood.

The sand that was inexplicably connected to Shokaku within him curled slowly into her crotch, soaking up her cycle's blood as it flowed freely from within the kunoichi.

Yukari stiffened as she stood there; the odd, gritty pleasure shooting up her spine as Gaara's one-of-a-kind sand entered her.

"I…don't know why you insist on doing this to me, Gaara-sama. Naruto kicked your ass to get you to change." Yukari's mouth gasped out her words.

"A promise is a promise; even though I made it to myself, Yukari." Gaara's lips curled into pure delight as her blood's spice roused the Shokaku within. "I considered it fair to ask this of you rather than kill you like I first planned."

"…" Yukari only shuddered as Gaara's sand made its way into her untouched womb and soaked up the blood that was to be shed.

"Besides, you once had a challenge to show me the 'joy of life'. Consider it met."

Sand moved to intercept Yukari's shuddering scream of pleasure as the sand inside her exploded her nerves with a tingling pleasure.

XXX

Sheena started mumbling in her sleep, shaking a bit. If Kankuro was wearing anything, he would feel them being pulled on as Sheena got a grip on his shirt. If not, he would feel his arm being gripped tightly.

"No…please…father…stop…" She continued to shake in fear as her nightmare played itself out in her mind.

Kankuro, having avoiding any and all that he could for the rest of the afternoon, had resigned himself stuck as Sheena was glued it his hand. It took convincing to get her to remove her chain from around his leg; but to parting her from him completely was a lost cause. The puppet master ended up having to place Karasu between him and the girl as they went to bed.

Now the Suna ninja sat up with a resigned groan and looked at Sheena.

"Tch, now what, Girly? I'm right here…" Yea Kankuro was whipped and he knew it. But how to deal with it on other levels was something that still bugged him.

Sheena's mumblings just continued to get worse. She kept trying to grip Karasu, as though holding him closer would help. She didn't know it was Karasu though, she had fallen asleep without the puppet between her and Kankuro.

"Daddy; stop, it hurts…please…" She started to cry in her sleep, her grip on the puppet getting weaker as though her nightmares were starting to affect her physical state, though she still tried to grip onto it weakly.

Kankuro watched this and sighed in annoyance. Reaching over and sliding Karasu down so he could take its place, the Puppet-master placed a hand on Sheena's face and another on her shoulder.

"Hey, girly, what's wrong?" Poor, clueless Kankuro.

XXX

Usagi could feel herself get tapped on the shoulder, before hearing Jake lean in and speak into her ear.

"Barokendo's entered the building. I'm not sure why but he seems to be more pissed off than normal, so…I'm just warning you now so you can take whatever precautions you need. I'm leaving the moment he comes into sight. Good luck." And with that, Jake exited the room.

True to his words, there were stomping noises heard coming from down the hall. Wydra had, in her sleep, somehow ended up on Usagi's bed cuddled up next to her. Usagi's eyes opened as she rolled onto her back; staring up at the ceiling.

"Great rabbit turds, just NOW the jerk comes back!" Throwing the covers off herself and not Wydra, Usagi snarled as she grabbed her kunai pack and stalked to the door; not really wanting to tell the titanic jerk there was a castration threat in effect if he entered the room.

Usagi's timing: god sent; as she threw open her door to beat Barokendo – only by a few muscle twitches – as the ninja was about to open it himself. Unfortunately for the door; it swung outward and hit Barokendo square in the gut.

One of the laws of physics might be that every action had an equal and opposite reaction. As the door swung out and hit Barokendo, it immediately swung back in but it was in splinters, coming apart and falling to the ground. The next thing to happen was his large fist going into the wall, continuing through and stopping next to Usagi's head.

As the light in the room had been off but the hallway light on, Barokendo's figure looked a bit more evil than normal. The look on his face was destructive, as if he was just looking for the slightest hint to break things, break people; or break anything that moved in a way he thought didn't fit his skewed view of the world.

His lips were curled back in a soundless snarl, his eyes momentarily closed, indicating he hadn't even looked where he'd punched and Usagi could be in a lot of pain right now. He kept that pose for a moment, before taking a deep breath, pulling his hand out of the wall, and making the door frame a little wider as he moved into the room.

Appearance wise, he seemed to be back to normal. He had all of his spikes back, his coat was on again, and so was his helmet. It was still different though…there were large lumps in his coat that moved about. From the look on his face, his lips twitched with every movement, as though this addition to his appearance was the source of his irritation.

Wydra was frozen with fear, her eyes wide open but her body frozen on the bed as she stared up at Baro.

XXX

Shozaku was just laying there in his bed, eyes closed but unable to fall asleep. There was a lot on his mind, things that'd recently happened; his role as the leader of what remained of the Wheel-nin, Yukari; Yukari and Kakashi as a pair. The only indication he gave that he might be awake was his hand idly playing with a pair of dice at his side. He was debating on whether or not to get up and go see how his Yukari and Yamira were doing.

Shozaku yawned, finally starting to feel the hints of exhaustion overtake him. He moved to put his dice away in his pocket when he heard an old, familiar, and un-welcomed voice in his ear.

"Boss, you gotta see this…" spoke a shady voice that sounded like it belonged to a scrawny crack-addict.

"Spades, I thought I told you I was done with all that. This is the second time you've spoken to me, and that's two times too many."

"That ain't true boss, I saw yous doin summa ya old tricks t'dee, so Spades thought you might been back en ta biz…" the voice crackled a little, sounding like it had a throat infection.

"Spades, you've got ten seconds to tell me exactly what you're doing here, where you're not wanted, before I banish you like I should have five years ago…" Shozaku's voice was even, but his body language spoke murder.

To everybody else, it would appear that Shozaku was just laying there talking to himself like a crazy person. To Shozaku, there was a tiny figure sitting next to his head that could only be described as a miniature stereo-typical ninja, with a spade imprint all over his clothes, and spades attached to his side.

"Dat girlie yous did yor trick on, some guys movin' in on ya turf and it don' look lahk she lahk it nun." Spades rattled on in his strange dialect. This was something Shozaku had imprinted on him many years ago so people, on the off chance they could see him, couldn't decipher his speech quickly enough. Shozaku's eyes opened, and narrowed, as he looked at Spades.

"You tried this before Spades. If you're lying, this time you're not just gone, you're eliminated. Show me…" Shozaku said as he got to his feet. He followed Spades to the nearby window, and crawled out of it. A moment later, his head poked over the edge of the roof, witnessing what Gaara was doing. He sighed, turning towards the little monstrosity on his shoulder.

"Alright then Spades…you know the call for help signal. If I make it, go to this man." Shozaku listed off Kakashi's qualities. "And say this…" he whispered into Spades' ear.

XXX

Yukari's red eyes now glared at Gaara as his sand finished sapping her shedding blood and withdrew – not only did Gaara get a taste of her blood, but her other juices too, and it intrigued him enough to step forward to caress her face.

"You are spicy, Yukari-chan." Gaara's stern face softened as he looked at her as a boy would look a beautiful girl.

"You're done, now, Kazekage-sama, let it go." She hated the fact that her body had betrayed her deeply hidden primal fear of Gaara and gave into climaxing for him; for his sand. It wasn't even his flesh that did it; but the stupid, mindless sand.

Shozaku sighed. He knew the look on Gaara's eyes, he'd seen it more than enough back in his day. If he separated them forcefully, Gaara would only get angry and either try to get her back, or cause problems. Shozaku did take good note of Yukari's words, and hearing that, decided to pull himself up over the edge as though he'd just gotten there.

"You heard the women, Kazekage. Let it go. You don't wanna press your boundaries with Konoha now, do you?" Bringing up the tentative alliance between the villages was the best non-violent weapon he had at the moment.

Yukari's head whipped at Shozaku, then Gaara, then back to the Gambler; her face going red with rage, embarrassment and just plain simple fear.

"OH shit." She muttered to herself. "Kazekage-sama, if…if you're done here…I'm leaving…"

Gaara's murderous gaze – one he never used on Yukari – returned to his face as Shozaku interrupted.

"…Fine. I'll talk to your sensei at noon tomorrow about your mission; we'll establish a meeting time then." Speaking his intent in a cold, even voice, Gaara walked to the edge of the roof and allowed his sand to create him a platform. He nodded once to the two ninjas and left.

XXX

Usagi inhaled sharply and stood rock-still; until she was spoken to. Barokendo, a jerk he may be, had the look of a killer at the moment.

Barokendo growled loudly for a few seconds, before letting his hand fall back to his side. His eyes seemed to move around the room aimlessly for a few seconds, before focusing on Usagi, and then Wydra.

"Rabbit woman…you've got experience with horny women…how the fuck do I get this thing off me? And girl; I'm not going to kill it…but get your friend off me, or it won't be long until I can't help but bring this house down…" His eyes twitched, as the bump-shapes under his coat stopped moving, almost seeming as though they were trying to make themselves less noticeable.

"Uh…" Usagi's mouth hung open. "Give me a name…I can work with and I'll see what I can do." Her courtesan brain sped up a mile a minute as her thoughts raced.

"G…Gilligan? Is that you?" Wydra said, her fear seeming to just wash away with concern, curiosity, and confusion. She got off the bed, and turned to Usagi to speak. "It's my friend, she…I think she got attached to him like Sheena did to that puppet-guy, only worse…" she was at a loss for words for the moment.

Baro just sat down on the floor, shaking with irritation and rage but trying his best to remain calm and let the other two women take care of the situation. He sat down for their benefit, so they could reach or talk to Gilligan.

"Gilligan-san?" Usagi looked dubiously at the lumps that stopped moving. "Can I talk to you for a minute, please?" The kunoichi was unarmed and unthreateningly drawing out the third female in the room.

"Because, you know, I'd like to talk about it with you…the thing you're going through right now."

XXX

Elsewhere in the Village, Kakashi had finished talking to Shikamaru and Temari; and had sent a messenger hawk back to its perch in Konoha. The home-ward bound hawk carried his report and more – all coded – as Kakashi lumbered back to the building.

The moonlight illuminated his hair as the jounin watched, with his ears, the scene taking place both on the roof and within the building. Gaara had just walked by him, saying nothing as the large giant of a ninja, Barokendo, walked the opposite way; into the building – the big guy's rage was in a class all its own.

"Ooooook." Kakashi said slowly and allowed both the Kazekage and the Wheel Giant to pass him; one on his right, the other on his left – one leaving the building; the other entering it.

"I am going to not say anything here." Kakashi muttered quietly under his masked smirk as Barokendo silently – smolderingly - made his way up the steps.

Giving the titan a minute's leeway, Kakashi tiredly entered the building himself and opened the door into the room he and the Gambler Wheel Nin shared for their stay in Sunagakure.

XXX

When she finally got a hold of Kankuro, Sheena calmed down rather significantly and clung to him tightly. Not forcefully like she had been the day prior, but rather like she needed him. Her body slowly stilled until she seemed calm, then opened her tear-stained eyes and looked up at him.

"Oh…it's you…good…" She smiled weakly, and nuzzled her head against his chest. She spoke, though it was a little muffled, against him. "I was having a bad dream about something that happened awhile ago…I haven't in awhile but I guess yesterday kind of reminded me of it…"

Kankuro sighed and shook his head; now that his black cowl was off, his mud-brown hair stuck out like Sheena's previous hairstyle. "Bad dreams are gone now, can you please go sleep with the Konoha ninja!" A weak attempt to get her to go away. Kankuro still had a tough-boy image to maintain.

"As soon as a meeting is set up for the Konoha ninjas and their mission, I'll bring up….your concern." Kankuro the idiot; a boy clueless on how to handle a fragile relationship. "I'm sure your friends are worried about you…" Sheena shook her head, clinging to him a little more desperately.

"It's because you were here that the bad dream went away…please don't make me go. I don't wanna re-live what my father did again…please let me stay." Her voice sounded like it was tearing up a little. "And my friends already know…it's not something I really want other people to hear about." She gave a low whistle, wondering if Reena was around. The puppy also had a calming effect on her.

The black and white puppy started from the deep sleep it had been in and sat up to look at the pair of humans.

"Woff!" It said and stretched, before falling back over to sleep.

"Like the dog, said: to go sleep, it's the dead of nightfall and there's nothing else to do here." Kankuro smiled softly and ran a hand through Sheena's hair. "I promise I'll be here in the morning."

Sheena nodded, cuddling up to him. "Thank you…" She fell back asleep, significantly calmer than before. Kankuro would hear somebody knocking, quietly but firmly, on his door.

XXX

"We can help Gilligan…this lady is real experienced and I'm your friend…just come on out, I was really worried about you all night. Please?" Wydra pleaded, standing next to Usagi.

Barokendo's coat slowly shifted until it was the same shape as usual, no bumps or other crawly things moving underneath it. Gilligan, looking only a year or so older than she had just a few days ago, poked her head out from the bottom of the coat.

"I don't wanna come out…you'll think I'm ugly now…"

"Tch, I'll be the judge of that, Gilligan-san, now come out and let me clean you up." Usagi squatted down and smiled. "You're hungry; let's get some fruit or something…other than meat…"

She was dead if Barokendo made the connection of her jest…so truly dead. The kunoichi had a barrel full of an inkling of what Gilligan went through.

"I promise…I won't think you're ugly." Usagi nodded again.

Barokendo did make the connection, and he did give her a look. The only two things stopping Usagi's death; were promises he'd made to Usagi's safety, and the fact that she was helping him get rid of something; he hope more than just temporarily. He took a deep breath, and his body went momentarily still as a statue. At present, under whatever examination, he would appear to be dead to any not experienced with him personally.

Gilligan nodded. "I am kind of tired of meat…my jaw hurts…" Although the truth in that statement might be slightly more alarming than what most would think. She sighed, and began crawling out from the cloak. Strangely though, she took a piece of it with her, as it wrapped itself around her body, covering most of her features. From what little could be seen, she had a few oddly-strange bumps in a ring around her head, but without closer inspection in a better-lit area bumps is all they'd appear to be. She stood there, looking around.

"Uhm…can we go to a bath-house or something?"

"Of course we can, if you're both up to it, eh, Wydra-san?" Usagi crowed triumphantly as she extracted the girl from Barokendo, and earning her life back in the process – the titan would have surely snapped her neck at her humor.

"I'll get the towels and the pee-room is in there…" the red-eyed girl pointed to the adjoining room and twirled once; stopping to look at Barokendo's inert form. Then, giving him a kiss on the head – she being the right mean bitch she was – Usagi offered him a place to spar her tomorrow anytime. 'Don't worry about hurting me, you'd be amazed at how hard I am to get a hold of…' was her message.

Wydra nodded, getting a towel for herself before going over to tap Barokendo's still form. She stood there in surprise. She usually got an angry reaction out of him for that. She poked him for a few more seconds until Gilligan came out of the bathroom.

"Okay…I'm ready to go…" Gilligan said, the cloak still wrapped around her. Wydra smiled at her, then turned to Usagi so she could lead them to wherever it was they'd be going.

Usagi smiled and exited the room, escorting her two female charges to the first floor hot springs – for some R&R.

Gilligan nodded, walking uncomfortably close to Usagi-Yukari, as she noticed how empty it was. As they walked into the better-lit area, a more alarming thing might come to light. The little bumps on her head had fingernails on them. It was only a horrible mystery as to what she was currently hiding under the coat. She stayed silent for now, almost nervous to be here even though she'd asked to come.

Wydra gave Gilligan a comforting pat on the back, flinching for just a second when she noticed the details as well, but talking anyway.

"It'll be fine. We're all alone here, right Usagi?"

"Yes indeed." If the kunoichi noticed that Gilligan thought her to be Yukari, Usagi didn't mention it. "This is within Konoha property, even though it's within the Suna Village. We are still in our Konoha building, so the only other people here are Wheel and Konoha ninjas. Namely Shikamaru, but he's not here right now."

It was the truth as Usagi stripped down to her skin and turned to let the two other girls view her slender, knock-out form. The kunoichi, unlike Yukari, knew Wydra and Gilligan better in their new forms and tried to forge a friendship that she otherwise didn't care to with their brat-kid forms. It was a type of kindness to pre-teens coming into their womanhood.

XXX

After being unable to get his attention with the knock, Kankuro's door would be opened and a semi-large figure would walk in. If it had been locked, the sound of the lock being quietly broken could be heard before the stranger's entry.

Kankuro sat upright and hissed at the hulking figure that entered his room. He leapt out of bed, hands high in unarmed peace.

"Dude, I swear I wasn't touching her, man. She just had nightmares so I made her wake up."

Poor, poor hapless Kankuro…

What stood before him was a much different Baro. It was only about six feet tall, had normal hair, was relatively unscarred, and had normal hands. The biggest thing that would make him BaRoKenDo was the look in his eyes, the 'sit down and shut up' look.

"It is almost comforting how you treat sex and things of an intimate nature, and if you're not touching her after how she seems to think of you, then we have a problem. I already know what nightmare she was having, the same one with our father. I came only to say this because I know this kind of situation is rather…strange for you. If you do not want her, you tell me. She will not leave without force, and if you break her heart, I will pop yours. If that's understood, we will get a long; and to make things easier for her, is there anything you wish to know?" the voice also sounded the same.

Kankuro, a strong ninja in his own right; was powerless to address the situation. Sitting on a nearby chair, the Suna Sibling opened and closed his mouth like a landed fish. The turmoil in his brain was hard to sift through; so it was minutes until Kankuro came up with his first question:

"Why me, man? The girl's obviously crazy if she thinks a bum like me is worth shit."


	11. Scroll 11

_**Scroll 11, Release**_

Author's Note: rated NC-17 for mature content

…

Shozaku watched Gaara go and then walked up to Yukari.

"Come on. Let's get you out of here. Do you want to go back to the hospital? Do you want me to get a hold of Kakashi for you, or do you think it's a better idea if he never found out this happened?"

Shozaku seemed oddly understanding of the whole situation, and was trying to talk over Yukari's embarrassment so he could get them to a better situation before it got a chance to get worse. He pulled something out of his pocket, handing her a bed-sheet so she might be able to cover her lower-regions.

"Thanks, Gambler-san." Reverting back to the name she first used for him; still indicated she had amnesia. "As for this incident, don't worry about it, it was what the Kazekage wanted from me and I don't care."

Following Shozaku into the room he was previously in, Yukari stopped and stared at the inert figure on the bed next to the Gambler's bed.

"!"

"How's it going there, white-hair, found something of yours wandering around outside." He gave Yukari a pat on the back and went to lie down on his own bed, muttering something off to his side. The only words that could be made out were 'Spades' and 'long talk tomorrow.' He lay down on his back, facing upward; hands behind his head, with his eyes closed.

Yukari stood in the doorway, wearing just her dark blue shirt and the sheet that Shozaku gave her.

"Oh, hello Yukari-chan." Kakashi rolled over and sat up; giving an aloof smile to the kunoichi as she walked in.

"Make love to me…" She whispered shyly. "Both of you…"

It was a damned great thing that Kakashi had his mask on, otherwise Yukari would have seen the blood streaming out his nose. The jounin dropped his hands; which had been in mid-arch through his hair.

"I'm sorry…what?" Was all the silver-haired jounin asked; his uncovered eye pinned on her. Shozaku was lying on his bed, the tent in his pants giving truth to his next words.

"The woman's asked us to do something, man. If you don't jump on the opportunity, I will. I've already had the chance. I declined because I knew the two of you had something going. But I'd deny myself nothing twice." The bald gambler wasn't joking; he was two seconds or another word from Yukari from pinning her to the wall with his crotch alone.

The only reason he didn't was of what she…they had done earlier that day; it had helped him relax a bit. All in all, he was still a little surprised at Yukari's words; but he wasn't about to let that stop him; or Kakashi.

Yukari smiled softly at Kakashi's stunned face. "Must I repeat myself, sensei?"

Not letting Kakashi answer, Yukari's attention went solely on him; ignoring Shozaku completely. She had other plans for the Gambler. As she moved to sit on the end of Kakashi's bed; in the middle of the length, there was a tap at Shozaku's window.

Shozaku laughed, getting ignored. He could probably still try and pull something, but he knew it would have a high risk of failure. He turned on his side, away from the couple, facing his window when he noticed something tapping on it. Raising an eyebrow, wondering how much more interesting this night could get, he got up and opened it, not sticking his head out just yet.

"Hi there, hot-stuff." A mass and tangle of raven-black hair darted in and engulfed the Gambler; being strong enough to lift the man out the window and back onto the roof.

"You thought Yukari-chan would be forgetting about you; if this was a bet, you'd lose."

In the silvery moonlight sat Yukari-kage; one of Yukari's Kage Bunshin. Being nude to the skin, the smirked-set lips of the clone grinned huge as she lifted a bottle of sake. Small, hand-full breasts were tantalizingly covered by hair; as her crotch was hidden within her cross-legged sitting stance. Creamy tan skin glowed in the light of the silvery orb above. Red eyes glinted wickedly as the owner leaned to the left and let her chin rest on her open left hand.

"It was truly brilliant of how Tora-chan helped us out, neh, Gambler-san?" The nude Yukari-kage stared at Shozaku.

With Shozaku out of the room, a softly smiling Yukari – the real one – set about her softer pace with Kakashi; whereas her clone would knock Shozaku's socks off.

What lied beneath Kakashi's ninja mask was a mystery only the real Yukari wanted to uncover. She would be the exclusive first to discover just how handsome the jounin was…

XXX

It was a good thing Shozaku was such a good gambler, and as a consequence had a mastered poker-face. He would've been fine if they'd asked him to leave, or if it was another person that extracted him. He knew how the two in the room below felt about each other, and he would've understood. The Gambler felt like he'd been edged out of the room so they could be together and dumped on a lesser-version of what he was slowly coming to want. He felt a little more offended about the whole situation, but he wasn't sure exactly why.

He did, however, get his interest peaked by something the clone said, so he played along for now. He walked up to the clone, and looked down on it with a lusty grin in his eyes.

"Maybe, how exactly did Tora-chan help us out?"

"See, that's your problem, Shozaku-san, you're too goodie-goodie…" Yukari-kage stood up and tossed him the bottle. "You stand there with that look in your eyes like I'm some kind of two-class slut; not as good as the real thing." The Kage Bunshin Yukari walked over to the Gambler and stuck a hand down his pants, rubbing. "Here's the thing, something that can get Yukari – AND me – in trouble. The secret to the Kage Bunshin."

Yukari-kage gave a little squeeze as she herself grinned. "I AM the real thing. Hokage'll kill us for revealing the Konoha Kage Bunshin secret, but I want you to be comfortable with the situation. Yukari-chan cares enough about you to split her virginity to two men. You and Kakashi-sensei…think about it…"

The clone had a revelation and hit her forehead with her free hand. "…which makes it stupid to refer to me in third-person. I am her and she is me."

Shozaku took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, and tilted his head back. From Yukari's point of view, his next action would be strange. His arm would shoot out to the side, grab nothing, and squeeze. A tiny cut would appear on his hand, before it closed over empty air.

"Fair enough." Were his only words he said as he stood there, smiling as he felt her hand in his pants. Then, without notice or indication, he wrapped his arms around her, kissed her full on the lips, and used one of his feet to sweep her off hers so the only thing holding her up was him. He didn't bother getting her hand out of his pants though, not just yet. Shozaku seemed to approve for now. Yukari-kage giggled and kissed him back; allowing her wild side to come forth.

"I am Yukari, and I'm wild tonight, Gambler-san." Again, that damned amnesia. "Tora-san says I am forgetting a two-week period of my life, would…you care to re-inform me of just what I am forgetting about you, neh?"

Her hair fell off until it was shoulder length and no longer hid her body; and so she wrapped her arm around him; squishing her chest against his.

"And don't worry about syncing your moves with Kakashi's…when the clone vanishes, the real thing experiences the all the things the clone felt within its life." Yukari pulled her lips off his again and giggled. "Am I the clone or is she the clone? I doubt anyone can tell!"

She leaned in closer and whispered: "Yukari's gonna get twice the fun through me…"

With that that, Yukari-kage squeezed hard on his rod and slipped her tongue into his stun-opened mouth; licking the backs of his teeth.

XXX

Wydra stripped out of her clothes as well. She looked slightly matured, more so than she should at her age because of the bond she had with her friends, but like she still had a good few years to go. She looked, almost jealously at Usagi's body, before turning to Gilligan and waiting for her to strip down as well.

Gilligan sighed, slowly pulling the cloak down. She was perfectly okay with her new form, but she wasn't sure if other people would be. In a normal sense, she had matured a few years in just a day and was pretty far along but still a few years behind Usagi as far as looks went. In a much-less normal sense, there were some rather strange additions to her body.

Two stuck out the most at first glance. The first, if you went top to bottom, would be that on her torso on both sides of her chest, a pair of hands had grown out of her skin that were covering her breasts. They looked like the hands she had at the end of her arms, only a slight bit bigger. They didn't restrict her chest at all, but were cupped so as to cover her. The next, if you went bottom-to-top, was that she now had four legs.

There were two large eyes on her shoulder, though at the moment they were closed. And all around the rest of her body, there were bumps, ranging in size from the tip of a finger to a hand barely-beneath the surface of her skin. As the coat fell to the ground, she had her hands behind her back and her head was facing the ground, though her eyes were tilted up at Usagi and Wydra, hoping their reactions wouldn't be too bad.

"EGADS! That is hideous!" Usagi blanched and reached forward to show Gilligan a lock of dirty hair. "You walk around with dirty hair! I will most certainly fix that!"

The kunoichi huffed, dropped the strand of strawberry blonde hair and looked warmly at Gilligan. She shrugged off the oddest feature of Gilligan – the four legs – and turned to the sauna and pointed to the shower stall next to it.

"You are cleaning yourself before you get in the hot springs, Gilligan-san, and that is final!" Usagi then turned to Wydra. "You too, missy! I shall do the same."

Following a time-worn Konoha tradition, Usagi would force the girls to thoroughly clean their bodies before being allowed to soak in the relaxing hot waters of the sauna.

Gilligan froze for a moment, but didn't have long enough to freak out before Usagi continued. She smiled and laughed, hugging her before she rushed off to the shower with Wydra. About the time the showers were turned on, a voice would be heard behind Usagi, coming from the hot springs. To Usagi, it wouldn't really be that familiar.

"Ah…always good seeing a girl grow up, isn't it rabbit-woman?" A very arrogant and creepy voice spoke, his appearance momentarily shrouded in steam from the springs.

"Shut up, you freak, this is a girls-only sauna." Usagi hissed as she drew out a trio of senbon needles from her hair. Thankfully, the shower stall was slightly separated from the hot springs, so Usagi moved to block the space that led to the showers.

"Show yourself or get lost, pisser."

"Relax woman, I actually had a woman with me until the two of you arrived. I'd rather not drive the poor girl crazy, bringing up sex after she recently finished. And I'm not doing anything to hide myself." He said as the steam began to dissipate. From top to bottom, it slowly revealed the form of James, eyes slowly opening and closing along many various places on his body.

"You can put those away; such quaint weapons stopped working when I was a child; they do nothing more than make me giggle. I came only to ask you of my sister." He said all this with his eyes, the ones in his head, closed and his head tilted back. Half of his body was submerged, with his arms stretched out as he relaxed.

_Damn, that's disgusting, you ought to cover…OH MY LORD AND KAMI!_ Usagi's red eyes widened at the size of his member, which too, had eyes. _I'll have to force you to die now, since you stained my beautiful vision, bastard…_ What she said was:

"This building is Konoha and Sunagakure property; I highly doubt you're from either, so you'll have to leave…"

The multi-eyed man merely shrugged. Eyes on his torso blinked in quick succession, as if forming a series of signals or patterns. There was a poof, and moments later the man looked like an exact replica of Yusuki, and spoke with the same voice; although the tone was completely different.

"Fine, does this work? I don't have to leave anywhere really. You can't stop me, and I'm not doing anything to attract attention. Will you tell them to hurry up?" He said, lazily lifting a finger to point at the shower stall. "I'd like to speak to my little sister. It would be nice to make sure it was worth it because we almost killed the spiky little bastard when this started. I blame your cousin, but I've currently left her in the hands of others…" He was silent after that, seeming to just enjoy the bath as he waited. He still maintained Yusuki's appearance, and he almost hoped it got a reaction out of her because he could have some fun with it.

Usagi blinked and smirked. "As long as you promise to stupid stuff…" She turned back and called over her shoulder. "Hey girls, someone is here to talk to you."

She then turned back to James in the guise if Yusuki and crossed her arms over her nude chest.

XXX

"Because you were nice to her; and I don't mean like…most. If she hadn't managed to get you inside of her, she probably would have moved on. If she had, and you hadn't gotten her off of you, she would have finished up and soon after moved on because we don't get attached to those we mate with like the Twisted do…god damn it…"

Those last two words he said while staring off into space and cursing his own situation, not Kankuro's. "Although we do get attached; it's just possible to resist. But you…you did the exact opposite of what she's grown up with, the exact opposite of what our very horrible and evil father's done to her. You pleased her, you did something caring, for her. Because of that, she's gotten attached to you, and wants it to stay that way."

Barokendo stopped his explanation there, waiting to see if there was anything Kankuro would say. He still had something else he would speak of before he left but it could wait for the moment.

"…I see. Fathers can get really…weird sometimes…" Kankuro digressed his point. "What am I supposed to do now?" The Puppeteer looked over his should at Sheena. "I mean, is she going to be this clingy all the time? The girl's got to learn how to work on her own…"

"No, ours was evil. But that's a talk for a later date and time." Barokendo shrugged. "I've never been in an extended relationship, so I don't have much experience with that. Do what I always do; tell her what you're thinking. I know that she's only clingy because she's use to things getting taken away from her, so she knows that if she's attached to you she can prevent that from happening. Since I usually do what I want and say what I think, I've never had the problem of being unable to handle it…so, outside of what I have said, it's up to you to figure it out." He continued to stand there, though his form did begin to fade ever so slightly.

"Great…" Kankuro dropped his face into his hands again. "So I tell her to back off, and I'm not going anywhere!"

Like Sheena, Kankuro was no Romeo or cupid when it came to having a relationship. He was just as new at this as Sheena was. The puppet-master stood up and glared at Barokendo. "Get lost, I need to frigging think."

Barokendo shrugged and turned around. He didn't turn his head or look over his shoulder, but he did have a few parting words. "This has nothing to do with my sister. If you glare at me again, I will take it as a challenge." Rather than walking out, he just faded away. It was different than if a clone just disappeared with a poof, this one faded out slowly as if a memory was being forgotten.

Back in Usagi's guest room, Barokendo gasped for breath and sat up, alive again.


	12. Scroll 12

_**Scroll 12, Shozaku's Past**_

As the moon moved across the black night sky, Rice the dragon was faced with a deadly dilemma. Jin-Quar, a fellow Dragon Nin, had intercepted her and forced her oath to the current and ruling Ryuukage – him. Jin-Quar, of course had the Dragon-stone, so Rice couldn't do anything but give her oath.

The male ninja stood strong, tall and could be a dead-ringer for Jino – brown skin, tightly coiled muscles and a tall, willowy stature. He was now Jino's enemy. Both his pointed ears had five piercings each; and the green scales left thick lines across the tips and curved down his temples to race across his face; going up to mimic the opposite side. A stripe crossed over the bridge of his nose as a trail went down the middle of his face, over his mouth, down his chin and neck until it bled into underneath his clothes. Red, reptilian eyes glared at the nightly scene before him.

Rice bet that if Jin-Quar were to strip; his brown skin would have stripes of green scales all over. Jino-sama had randomly placed circular patches; denoting higher status – dragon scales without a pattern or order signified power; since the chakra inside affected the scale's growth.

Jin-Quar had betrayed his Ryuukage, Jino, and for that he was labeled as walking dead. But until Rice was reunited with Jino, the petite white dragon was stuck in his bad service.

Jin-Quar, had also betrayed his Village; ganging up other, distasteful ninjas: the one next to him now, looked sickly with his pasty white skin and was short enough to send Rice shivering in disgust. A half-foot tall black Mohawk stood on an otherwise bald head. Standing five foot and six inches, the man had a beady yellow eye as his other one was currently purple – an eye stolen from the village Rice had last seen Jino at: Konohagakure.

It was awful karma that the titanic Cook-nin had given Jino-sama the slip. The man obviously wanted to travel alone; and all he had to do was ask Jino; but instead he used the clever and tricky ninja evasion skills to lead Jino and Rice astray. Skiminachi had used something to lead them left when he himself went right. Since then; five days ago; Rice had been very upset since Jino-sama had sent her to race ahead to catch up with the other Wheel Ninja as she tangled with Leaf Ninja that got in the way. They had yet to meet.

Now the fake Ryuukage and his friend; the man wore a ninja band depicting the five-side of a die: four dots in a square-shape with one dot in the middle; stood on the frigidly cold sandy rock of the canyon wall and looked down at the quiet village below.

"He be there, Ryuukage-sama." The ninja spoke with a wicked chuckle. "He be getting some good girl, too." His bare fingers twirled a playing card – King of Clubs – between them.

"Easy, Clubs, easy." Jin-Quar lowered himself to squat on the rock so his tall body wouldn't stand out that much. "You'll have your reckoning soon. We've got to meet with that damned snake-munching bastard James. He's got the low-down on these guys and gals."

Jin-Quar lifted his glove-covered hand and turned his red eyes to Rice. "You say you've previously seen these ninja, Rice-chan?"

"Yesss, Riccce-chan ssseen Leaf Ninja. The Gambler issss with them." Hissing her answer out through clamped, pointy teeth, the white dragon forced herself to land on the disgusting hand that Jin-Quar offered.

"Tell me their names, Rice-chan." Jin-Quar pushed. "All of them."

"Kakassssshi, Yukari, Hani, Barokendo, Sssheena, Usssaagi, Gilligan, Wydra, Yamira, Reena and Ssshozzaku." The white dragon lowered her foot-long neck in disgust as she parted with her information.

"Damn that Shozaku to the pits of Hell." The ninja, Clubs, stiffened in pure hate. "I be going to hang him by his pathetic balls and take his girl in front of him…"

"Easy, Clubs, easy." Jin smiled coldly at the Dice-marked ninja. "First we gather information; see if we can find their weaknesses; then we strike…"

"I be wanting that girl now…" Clubs hissed through white teeth. "Right now…below me…" The man lowered his other hand to his pants and proceeded to stroke his stiffened rod.

He was viewing the action Shozaku was having through his newly acquired doujutsu eye they had extracted from the man back in the village that Jin-Quar had captured the dragon at. The eye, purple in color; was ever so useful as it acted like a natural telescope and zoomed in on the action. It had taken Clubs a few days to figure out just how the pretty eye worked, but he had it down now. They had left the unfortunate man with just two – it was all he needed anyway; having three was just ridiculous.

"All in good time, my friend, all in good time." Jin-Quar chuckled to the strongly built ninja beside him. "Let's go meet our Dark and Twisted friends first."

"Right." Clubs chuckled to himself. "That damned gambler is going to pay for killing our king…"

XXX

Both Yukari above and below were having the time of their young lives as they explored the various avenues that produced pleasure. Kakashi went slow, almost painfully for both of them, as he worshiped every inch of his Yukari. Yukari did the same for the jounin, lingering most on his arms, face and chest. She and he were made for each other; as the jounin pushed himself to give her pleasure like none other. Kakashi did read Icha-Icha Paradise; which came from the mind of a perverted genius. It was a shame to waste all that knowledge…

Yukari-kage, was fast and intense; not getting enough of Shozaku to sate her lust as she reached down to lift the Sake bottle and giggled. "What say you to getting me drunk and having your way?"

Shozaku raised an eyebrow and popped the bottle open, taking a small swig of it and holding it out to Yukari.

"Don't take too much now, I'd rather you remembered every…" He grinded against her, and wrapped his arms around her. "Single…" One hand slid down her back and gave her ass a good squeeze, one finger stroking along her inner thigh. "…second of it." He finished with a grin, his other hand on her chest, pinching her nipple slightly. He wasn't sure how far he could go into the pain and pleasure territory with her.

Tossing her head back as the pleasure scraped along every nerve, Yukari's mouth opened in a loud gasp. "Kami Above, Gambler-chan! That is something else!"

She too, took a swig of sake; balancing precariously as he held her and her one hand stuck in his pants. The sake raced to her cheeks as she whimpered in uncertainty. "Just…take me now!"

Her arm was pinned between them as his large bulge grinded against her vulnerable crotch. The heat nearly seared her alive as the pit of her stomach burst into a wave of arousal.

Shozaku didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Yukari by the hips and hoisted her into the air, leaning himself back a little and keeping his feet planted with chakra. He balanced her on his stomach, leaning forward so she could easily slide down onto him. He moved his head forward, his lips sucking on her breast as he nibbled and bit at her nipples. He rolled his hips so that he pushed against her but didn't quite enter. He knew she already wanted it, knew she was ready, but he always did like to build things up to the breaking point if not beyond.

"Are you ready for the best night of your life?"

Yukari grinned as she pushed his pants down with her bare feet. "Am I ever! Come on, Gambler-kun, don't tell me you're afraid…" She tilted her head back and let out a strangled groan of pleasure.

Her chest tingled with his attentions. Yukari grunted once and took another gulp of the sake. "Come on, now, cure me of my inhibitions!"

XXX

Rice sat in the night sand sadly; even as the two, red-headed women around cooed and ahhed after Rice. The woman to Rice's left; standing five foot on the mark, had sky-blue eyes and a tattoo of a red heart under each eye. The woman to the right was nearly the same; only had shorter, curlier hair. Green eyes stared out from behind heavy bangs, as she too, had tattoos under each eye: small red card-suited diamonds. They both had a collar matching their tattoos, and wore clothing with the same markings. The Diamonds woman had a black kimono with diamonds on it and the Hearts girl had a green kimono with hearts on it.

Both women were currently out of those kimonos as Clubs had performed a useless summoning ritual with them. As to what they were trying to summon, Rice did not know nor care. Afterwards, having failed, the male ninja had his way with them.

Rice, being a dragon, had no care for human habits and just sat sadly on the sand as the women now dragged themselves out of the sandy pit they had been used in. Hearts and Diamond both loved their Clubs and cared not how badly they were abused.

XXX

Shozaku smiled, rubbing his hands along her side. He leaned upward so that gravity would slowly take its natural effects. Slowly, almost agonizingly, he entered her. He closed his eyes for a moment to better feel it all, opening them once again to look into her beautiful orbs. His lips seemed like they were twitching, as if they had something to say. He let one hand roam her body, feeling her, touching her, rubbing her and pinching her in each and every spot it came across while his other was wrapped around her and holding her close as they began to fit so well together.

What Yukari-kage couldn't see was a slow battle going on in Shozaku's head. For a few years now, coupling like this meant shit to him; it was done either for stress relief or a momentary pleasure. This new feeling was powerful in his mind and body, and it was slowly working its way into the depths of himself he'd locked away long ago.

"Best fit ever…" The bald-headed ninja spoke, smiling into her eyes as she stopped, with him now completely within her.

Yukari-kage's hand went slack as both the natural pain and pleasure screamed along her nerves. Yukari-kage brought her head forward and nuzzled along Shozaku's shoulder blade; her inner depths being filled for the first time by him. Her chest heaved with the unknown as her virginity was taken by someone craving it.

"Oohhhh…gods…" The red-eyed kunoichi shuddered and gasped; her other arm now free to wrap around his shoulders to hold herself up. She sat on him; her tightness delighting them both.

Shozaku began a steady rhythm, at first slowly pumping in and out of her, his hands on her hips now that she had her arms around him. He began to increase the beat, leaning his head forward and licking along Yukari's neck, moving to kiss his lips to hers. In his head, the beat of their love slowly blocked out the bad chakra that was starting to seep in from a source he'd tried for so long to erase. He let out a low moan; feeling the heat build quickly in his lower body.

Yukari-kage, having had to put the sake bottle down, gasped as each near thrust of Shozaku had her mind spinning in a spiral of pleasure. This was her first, and she was using her training to ignore any pain there was and to focus on the pleasure. The thick rod she felt inside of her was something scary indeed; she too had negative chakra surrounding her mental view of this act. If Kabuto were around; he would most certainly be killed in punishment for making her feel this darkness.

In the building below them, Kakashi and Yukari were already on their first climax, as the jounin had tortured himself enough and taken his kunoichi with a quick thrust.

It was bliss for both Yukari and her shadow clone; sweet and tender with Kakashi; wild and wanting with Shozaku. Yukari-kage brought her head up once more and tried something she had heard Ino, Tenten and Kurenai talk about; she flexed her legs and squeezed Shozaku's pumping rod.

He sped up his tempo, sliding in and out of her quickly, his hands holding her hips and squeezing her ass. He wanted this to be memorable, wanted it to be something unique for him and something that would stick in her mind forever. He also knew that thrills tended to excite people, so he got a little experimental. He built up a decent amount of chakra into his feet as he pulled himself out of her until only his tip was inside.

Then, all at once; he slammed himself into her and launched the pair of them into the air. By the time they reached the peak of the jump he was completely inside of her, and as they started to go back down, her squeezing got to him and he couldn't hold back any longer. He threw his head back and came, roaring with raw pleasure and masculinity as they neared the rooftop. He wouldn't let her get hurt though…but it was still dangerous to do nonetheless.

Yukari let out a scream of nerve-grinding pleasure and surprise as Shozaku launched them into the air. Her stomach lurched into her throat as they hung in the air for a mere, eternal moment; before descending. She threw her head back and gasped weakly as she felt him explode deep within her. Juices from him and her leaked out from between her legs as her red eyes opened wide in the entirety of his act.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Clutching his shoulders with her nails, Yukari's mind exploded as her body did; involuntarily gripping his rod within her.

Shozaku held Yukari-kage close, letting his euphoria fade as his body spent itself within her. After a minute or two had passed, he set her feet on the ground and slowly pulled himself out of her, looking into her eyes all the while. He was not speechless, just preferred to let the memory sink in. He'd had sex many times over the years but…this time it matter for more than just being satisfied. He kissed her gently on the lips.

"My back's got some pretty good marks on it now…" he joked lightly.

Yukari-kage just smiled and wrapped her arms around him as they slid to the rooftop floor.

"Damn…" was all she managed to exhale. Letting the Gambler kiss her on the lips; she strained to maintain her limited-life chakra so she could bask in the afterglow of their act.

He smiled, and keeping on arm around her, laid them down on the ground and was on his back facing the sky, his other arm stretched out to his side.

"You can disperse for now if you want. I know we won't forget this and I knew the real you wasn't here to begin with, though you made effort to have it seem otherwise."

Shozaku's tone didn't have any anger or sarcasm. If nothing else, he just knew he was going to be alone for most of the night and the prospect of that wasn't the most pleasing to him, though it wouldn't be too different from most nights.

"I'm trying to stay here, Gambler-san, give me a break." The Shadow Clone smiled over as she set her head on the hollow of his shoulder. "What ever we did, Yukari-san will feel it all over again down below. The Kage Bunshin had very little chakra left – and thus, life – so she wanted to make the most of it. "I still have amnesia; please…tell me your name…"

"Genshostzakyugan, but only call me that when nobody's listening. any other time, call me Shozaku, the short and less…painful version of that name. I'll be out here for a bit if you can tear yourself away from old one-eye. Maybe then we can talk…as much as I care about you, I don't really know too much." He smiled, wondering how his night would play out after this. He idly scratched her head while she was still there.

"Shozaku…" Yukari-kage smiled as the name rolled off her lips. "Domo Arigatou…" With a bright smile, Yukari-kage's deliciously nude body puffed away with itself as her chakra ran out.

If Shozaku had been listening for it; he would have heard a second cry of ecstasy as the Kage Bunshin's life transferred to the real Yukari. Her third climax startled Kakashi as Yukari writhed against him in the bed. Yukari-kage's experiences sent the tired kunoichi another set of mind-blowing waves of pleasure. Shozaku's work was noted and forever remembered – as was his name.

Shozaku had indeed been listening for it – the truth of Yukari-kage being proven. He smiled, knowing that it was only once; but it felt like he'd given it to her good twice. The gambler put his hands behind his head and relaxed as the cool night air washed over him.

XXX

James sighed, hoping he could get a rise out of her. Before he shifted back, and before the girls emerged from the shower stall, he said only a few more words, but this time it was exactly like Yusuki, almost as if it was pre-recorded.

"Where did you go, Usagi? Why did you leave me behind!" The voice sounded rather pained.

As the girls stepped out of the shower stall, James was looking his normal self. Wydra flinched and took a step backwards, instinctively afraid of him and having heard quite a few bad things about him. Gilligan had the exact opposite reaction. Crouching with all four of her legs, she leapt through the air with a happy high pitched squeal and there was soon a lot of splashing.

"Wh…what just happened?" Wydra asked with confused apprehension.

Usagi, having felt her heart twitch at Yusuki's poor attempt to get her wet, turned and looked oddly at Gilligan.

"Um, you ok there, Gill-san?" Usagi crouched at the edge of the hot springs. "Isn't he…like…not meant to be here?"

"This is my older brother James! People say he's mean, but his head's just broken, like daddy's! He's not evil, he just disagrees with everybody else!" Gilligan said between bursts of underwater travel. She wrestled with the older man for a few more seconds before stopping, sitting up, and looking over at the two of her friends. "No…probably not. Why are you here?" She asked, looking up at her older brother affectionately.

"I just came to see how you were doing. That spike-bodied Barokendo was so close to death…for I-can't-count how many times…until the both of us felt our family calling. We agreed to let it be and get to our loved ones. Unfortunately, this was the first time I could see you without causing problems, because after the hospital you disappeared for awhile. Where DID you go, sister dearest?"

Wydra perked up, she was interested in that too. She'd gotten a pretty good idea from when Baro got back, but she wanted to hear what Gilligan would say. She was still standing close to Usagi though, worried James would do something.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you. Out of everything I've seen, you get to live because we need you to live. Now Gilligan, answer my question…" He said with a bit more authority to his voice. Gilligan looked down shamefully, eyes tilting up at her brother.

"I don't want to…you'll be mad…"

"You found somebody, didn't you?"

"Yeah…but you're gonna be mad…"

"Who was it?" He asked, now very tense. The temperature in the room seemed to rise a few degrees. James slowly growing anger and irritation affected the temperature.

"Baro…kendo…" She took a few steps back as she said it. James was momentarily silent, frozen as a statue as he processed what she'd said.

Usagi, being the kunoichi she was, slipped instantly into the water and slid up next to Gilligan and wriggled between her and James.

"Now, now, Gill-chan, you're a girl now, and females don't have to kiss and tell." The red-eyed girl turned to James and smiled politely. "You are quite distracting, you know that? Cover up." She held out a towel. If James were any normal pervert, the close proximity of Usagi's budding feminine body would be enough to send the male mind in the gutter instantly.

For the first few seconds, James attention was still on his younger sister. He was immobile, statue-like even. As the implications of his little sister's new found soul-mate began to sink in, his various eyes all began to blink rapidly, and some were starting to shift in appearance as though a deeply set genjutsu was wearing off.

But it all stopped the moment Usagi wiggled in between the pair, one a slowly backing away young girl and the other an extremely angry and powerful older brother. Though they quickly resumed the appearance of normal eyes, Usagi could see that one, located in James left cheek, was a Sharingan. James smiled, his normally placed eyes taking on an evilly lustful glint. He reached out and took the offered towel; or rather, he took Usagi's hand, enclosing it in what could now be seen was a rather large fist. Also now, he stood tall, looking down at her as his eyes spoke of all kinds of naughty things soon to happen, his body saying he intended them to happen one way or the other.

"You should never get in front of a crazy man when he is both naked and angry…"

"You should never pressure a growing young woman into feeling bad about herself." Usagi slid up under his arm and pressed a kunai to his throat. "Now if you care to leave the lady's section of this wonderful hot springs, I'll show you the way out." Bold talk coming from a nude kunoichi. Red eyes glared up at James's normal eyes; wondering just how the hell he managed to obtain a Sharingan.

"I would not pressure her to feel bad about herself; I would have her know how bad she should feel about her positions." he chuckled as she pressed the kunai to his throat. "Like I said child, such a quaint little weapon stopped working on me sometime ago." James was impressed that she kept trying to talk to him like that, and the fact that she was nude was what kept him from opening up a little bit of whoop-ass on her ass. As it was, he stretched out a freakishly long arm and began to slide it upwards along her leg, looking down at her with a crooked grin.

"Alright girls, are you ready to leave?" Usagi smiled silly-like and lowered her kunai; rubbing her leg against the arm. "It seems we're not getting the privacy you deserve." Taking it upon herself to defuse the growing tension; Usagi withdrew her kunai and preformed a series of hand signs. "Kutsu No Jutsu!" She summoned a brace of rabbit and laughed as the long, horse-legged animals produced a drama of fakery as the became aware of the hot water they stood in.

"Usagi-sama!" A white rabbit cried out. "It's a hot springs!"

James laughed, letting his hand fall from Usagi. Moments later, bumps in his skin formed and raced down his body, disappearing under the water as the reached his legs. Barely a moment had passed before some of the rabbits would be violently attacked by many-toothed orbs floating around in the water, one going under as though pulled down by a pack of piranha. The eyes dispersed with puffs of smoke though as James walked out of the room, laughing. Violently abusing small animals had always cheered him up.

Usagi flung her kunai at him uselessly as he left and dispelled her rabbits.

"DAMN YOU!" Usagi scowled as Wydra and Gilligan silently drew on their clothes and were escorted back into Usagi's room – Barokendo was far gone.

Gilligan looked a little sad, not having been able to stay at the hot-spring for any length of time. she was actually clean now, but at the moment she didn't really feel all that relaxed. She sighed, ambling over to her bed and looking up at Usagi.

"Maybe tomorrow?" Wydra nodded, sitting on the bed next to her fiend. She shook a little, weird-ed out by James. She'd also never seen a man naked before, not like that.

"Yea, maybe tomorrow." Usagi grounded out as she triple locked her door and pointed to the pair of beds. "You two, go to sleep now. I'll stand watch." The courtesan's eyes were red-hot as her angry seethed underneath her skin. "We'll talk in the morning…"


	13. Scroll 13

_**Scroll 13, Charges Wild**_

A few minutes prior before Yukari had given her offer to Kakashi and Shozaku; Auron had been lying down in his bed; awake but recovering. He had a faster recovery ability than the average ninja. Danzo would boast better than many, but he had spent almost all of his chakra just fending off the fatality of his injuries earlier that day. He had also gotten used to the coming and going of medical nin; whether they were checking up on him or just passing by. So he didn't think it odd when one came up to him and put her hands on his chest; doing what he assumed was some sort of medical procedure.

_Interesting tattoo she's got. Sort of like a dia-_

That was the last thing he remembered thinking, for he blacked out. He woke up a few minutes later standing outside the Sand-village walls, fully recovered but still naked. The only injury he felt was a burn in a very private place, which he was about to inspect when an inexplicable instinct came over him. He was always very protective of Konoha and all its ninja, in whatever strange ways Danzo instructed him to be, but now he felt that some were in danger. He heard a faint mumbling in his head, and almost as though it guided him, he looked up to see a quartet of figures, along with a small and scaly one, higher up on the wall.

XXX

Jin-Quar and the rest would get the feeling that they were being watched, possibly from very close by. The presence made no effort to hide itself from being sensed, though it remained out of sight.

Clubs, having sent Diamond on ahead to take care of a certain annoying Konoha ninja; pulled Hearts-chan up behind him. Jin-Quar and Clubs had once again failed to summon the Spades Imp – who was in the service of Shozaku – and were now waiting for either the snake-controlling madman or James – either contact would have been fine with Jin-Quar and Rice. Clubs, however, was already plotting on how to slide under Shozaku's defenses, take his girl, and leave a calling card.

"Come on, Hearts-chan, we be going to strike hard at that murderous gambling bastard." Clubs smiled down at the younger, red-headed heiress of the late Hearts.

The previous Ace of Hearts woman had died fighting the hell spawns of the Gambler's numerous clan of which Shozaku had left behind The girl; barely 15 was as infatuated as they came. Having been born from Shozaku's previous lover, Hearts was young and still tender; yet used. Clubs had taken the girl and killed the woman; yet still wanted revenge against Shozaku. He was going to get it one way or another.

"So where be our contact, Jin-Quar-sama?" Clubs sneered at the scaly ninja as they sat in a dip on the canyon top.

A spectral hand rose up out of the moonlight beside Rice. Spectral, in that it was as though the moonlight itself had taken shape and a will of its own. The hand was attached to an arm though, and the hand itself did not latch onto Rice or even do anything forceful. Its only actions against the small dragon was contact, just enough to feel it. In the brief moment of contact, and for however long Rice let it remain, she would get a sensation that she was being physically analyzed; not in any harmful way, just as though a curious presence from the owner of the hand was probing for some strange sort of information.

"Jin-Quar…-sssssama." Rice sibilantly hissed. "Ssssomething isss here."

"About time, damn it, it's nearly morning." Jin-Quar hissed himself and moved over to watch the spectral hand interact with Rice. The poor dragon was shaking with fright and the fake Ryuukage did nothing to assuage the small dragon.

_I'll hate you until the ends of time, Jin-Quar…_ Rice wailed mentally. Jino would never allow such breach of physical contact. Jin-Quar had better watch out for Jino if the woman ever found him.

The spectral hand gave Rice a polite pat. It then did the hand-sign for 'thank you', before sinking back into the ground. A moment later, Auron rose out of the ground next to Rice. Among his previous batch of randomly set and always changing skin colors, there was now a patch of dragon scales that would occasionally surface here and there on his skin, fading away moments later.

"You are enemies of Konoha and Suna both. You will leave here with your lives or your possessions, not both." He said with a serious look on his face. He was either going to provoke the enemy into attack, or the conversation could turn up good for him.

"Whoa there, changeling, what's the rush?" Jin-Quar huffed to himself as he saw Clubs and Hearts stare at the village. "I'm here not to attack any Suna or Konoha ninjas, I promise. I just want the few who know how the Woman I hate managed to escape from the Void." The scaled shinobi grinned a fanged grin that turned into a frown as Hearts grabbed the white dragon and took off into the village.

"There be a good girl…" Clubs chuckled to himself as he turned to Auron. "I thought ye was with Diamonds-chan…ah Diamonds-chan! There you be!" The mohawked ninja grinned at the naked Auron as his purple eye looked past him. If Auron was knowledgeable; he would know that either Otou or Okamizu would be missing an eye – and the Hokage would be extremely angry with the breach in Konoha secrecy.

Auron nodded, looking down at his hands and then at the air around him and nodding a few times as though there was a conversation going on that only he could hear.

"I see. The situation has already gotten direr than I had previously expected. People don't grin like that when they're telling the truth." As he spoke, he began poking various major pressure points along his body, the usually-swirling colors seeming to condense.

"I will return those possessions to their proper villages and owners shortly."

"Such a shame you didn't throw your lots in with us, boy." Jin-Quar snarled as the red-headed Diamond behind Auron sidled up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go, big guy, I thought I would do you a favor and heal you, but I'll not let you interfere with Club-sama's plans!" Quick as a wink, the woman opened up Auron's pleasure sensories and pressed her kimonoed body against his front; grinding his rod between her legs.

A few feet away, Clubs laughed as his Diamonds-chan intercepted Auron. "Ye be a good girl now, and don't let him enter you, eh, Diamonds?"

"Ah, how did you know my shoulder was the last place needed for the jutsu?"

He watched for a moment as she began to grind against him. He had fought, if only briefly, against a person that used his own sense of pleasure against him. He would not allow himself to be distracted, at least not completely. There was a bit of a ripping sound, as though paper being torn multiple times by an angry person, followed by a brief flash of light.

A moment later, Diamonds would be grinding against a rather draconic version of Auron. It was his frame, same build, but whereas Auron many different colored patches of skin this one had just various patches of dragon-scale covering his body, and his right arm ended in a clawed hand. As he smiled, his teeth were long, sharp, and thin like a dragon's.

"Careful, you don't really wanna ride that dragon now little lady."

As that one spoke, another Auron appeared, but this one stood in front of Jin-Quar. It was a ghostly white one, as though his skin consisted of moonlight. Behind him, one with dark skin as though made of shadows rose out of the ground. The light one stood still, simply staring into his eyes while the dark ones hands took on sharp features, and made as though to cut Jin-Quar's pack away. For the moment, Clubs was either ignored.

Jin-Quar hissed and jumped back; putting space between him and Auron.

"Damn this to hell, Clubs, I'm retreating. This spot is no longer safe to meet." Jin-Quar lifted his arms and let fly a thousand bats; aiming to obscure vision long enough to make his escape. With Hearts and Rice gone, Jin-Quar had nothing to worry about at the moment. He did, however, notice that the Dragon stone was extracted from his pack and cursed. He'd get that back later. Rice had given a vow to him and unless another person was fast enough to gain a full-moon vow from the white dragon, the stone was – for now – useless.

"Beh, you craven bastard." Clubs spit at the ground as he nodded to Diamonds. "Meet us back at the underground spot, babe. I hope you'll take care of this whelp for me."

Clubs lifted the card that had remained in his hand and threw it at Auron. The card grew large enough to cover Clubs from Auron's view. Clubs vanished.

"…" Diamonds smirked and looked up at the draconic form of Auron. "You think a spiked lizard prick is enough to deter me? Think again." The red-headed woman used her hand to tear her kimono-ed bottom away from her legs and spread them wide to thrust herself upon the foot-long shaft of the draconic Auron. Her passage was tight enough to bring pleasure to the beast.

"Haha!" The dragon grabbed her hips and just pounded at it, going along with it for a moment.

A few seconds later, the woman's hands would be grabbed by the moonlight and shadow versions of Auron, before the draconic grabbed her upper legs. Another unseen one put a blindfold around her eyes. The draconic one kept going at it though, pounding away into Diamond. It seemed they intended to taker her prisoner, but the draconic one still wanted to finish.

Diamonds allowed herself to enjoy this; buying Clubs enough time to escape. He would most likely summon her later when he pleased. But for now, the Queen of Diamonds was caught and used.

XXX

The two little girls nodded, but they went to a single bed and shared that. Gilligan was feeling a little lonely but Wydra was just un-nerved by the day's events. Everything began to seem so far outside her, she just wasn't used to it. Moments later, there was a rather heavy knock around the lower half of the door, as though somebody used their knee to unlock it.

"Piss it, this better be worth it." Usagi stood up from her sitting chair and moved to the door. "Who is it? It's past midnight, so piss off…"

"I don't usually knock. I will not knock twice." Barokendo said in a low voice. He didn't want Gilligan to hear him; it had taken him long enough the first time to get her off of him.

"Fine, give me a moment…" Usagi slipped through a small enough opening and shut the door behind her. "What is it? Don't you sleep like a normal person?"

"No. I don't sleep. Hold still a moment; this may hurt." He said, looking down at her shoulder. One of his spikes extended, spearing and grazing along the top her of shoulder. It made a small gash, but on the end of it there was a small eye. "James planted this on you I'm assuming. That's all I really needed to do. I'll be outside the door if you require something of me." With that he just turned, stood right in front of the door like a silent sentinel. Unless she said or did something, his back was to Usagi.

Blinking before the slight pain registered on her mind, Usagi exhaled in annoyance. "Damned if I don't sic Yusuki to kick that guy's ass…whatever Barokendo." With that she went back into her room and slept on the couch.

XXX

The draconic Auron kept going for a couple of minutes, eventually ramming home and throwing his head back with a roar as he spent himself within her. He smiled, keeping it in until he grew soft, and then pulling out as he had a good grip on her ankles. There were a couple more ripping noises, and then Diamonds could feel more hands on her, ones that tightened the blindfold. She was laid on the ground, pinned there as her clothing was pulled down. She could feel a paintbrush against her skin, as somebody was drawing symbols.

"Bah, do I really have to stop while you finish this? I was having fun!" The draconic one asked in a voice that was raggedy and raspy; as though it belonged to a life-long smoker.

"You're new to us, so I'll lay it down. This is so she can't get away by any means but her legs, which we can cover. We got some strange sort of stone and a prisoner to boot, we bagged it good today and we need to bank on it. This is so we can ask her what we need to at our leisure…and your pleasure doesn't come before the orders of D-" at about that point, another a pair of hands was put over her ears to muffle the conversation.

Diamonds sighed, consigning herself to this fate and knew she could use her medical-based jutsu at her whim…or not. It was complete up to her. Frankly she opted to stay with the draconic man and the others and see what her senses could dreg up.

XXX

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Kakashi had calmed Yukari down enough with another 'kissing-session' and smiled to himself as he watched her sleep. Grunting as he pulled up his mask, the jounin slid out of bed and noted the hour. It was two hours till false dawn, then another for sunrise. Putting on his pants, Kakashi maneuvered over to window that Kage-Yukari had pulled Shozaku through. Making his way up to the roof, the silver-haired jounin chuckled to himself as he offered a black-covered edition of 'Icha-Icha Paradise' to Shozaku.

"Study up, Shozaku-san, she'll want more later." Surprising himself talking with such direct words, the Hatake ninja sat down and pulled out his favorite orange edition and flipped it open.

"I've done that more times than you've had days of life, I've got plenty of energy left in me." He joked. He was idly shuffling a deck of cards with one hand and reading the offered book with the other.

Within the rooms below them, Yukari slept deeply; having been sated thrice that night. She had no idea that more trouble would be in store for the Konoha Ninjas come morning.

"Bah, I think I forgot something in my pack. I'll be back in a minute Kakashi…" Shozaku said, sliding down the roof and slipping into the room quickly. He had only forgotten a shirt, and it was a lame excuse. He moved up and gave Yukari a hug and a kiss on the cheek, just sort of standing over her a moment in adoration.

Shifting slightly as both men entered back into their room, Yukari slept on as Kakashi quietly tapped on the gambler's shoulder and signaled something about hot-springs on the floors below.

"There's a hot springs down below, care to unwind?" Kakashi was feeling ever so great since his time with Yukari. He wanted to soak up more heat and loose himself in thought for the remainder of the night.

"I would but I actually do have some paperwork and a few other things I need to take care of. I've got a little information on the sand village and the Kazekage, so I'm gonna go over that along with a few other things. I'll catch up to you in a little bit though. It shouldn't take long; I just don't want to forget…" He didn't bother putting his shirt on, but did pull out his folder, looking at it with a sigh.

"Suit yourself." Kakashi grinned from beneath his mask and grabbed his pack before leaving the room to go to the hot-springs.

Shozaku settled onto his knees and pulled out the paperwork. He'd look up every minute or so, idly gazing at Yukari.

XXX

A few minutes later, the brush had been dragged all about her body and various symbols were now painted onto her. It was a hastily done procedure, and seals were never Auron's best work to begin with but it would suffice for a day, or a few hours at least. Her hands were tied behind her back, with somebody still holding those, as her legs were bound together at the feet and knees.

She was pulled off the ground and put into a sitting position, resting back on her legs as somebody held her hands. The blindfold was removed and what sat before her was a person that seemed completely out of place. It was actually a small child, and the only signal that he belonged with the men around them that contained Diamonds was a Konoha symbol branded into his cheek. This one was sitting, directly behind him was the draconic version. He was naked and hard again, and was staring at Diamonds with a smile on his face as though just waiting for the word 'go.'

"We've a few questions for you, please answer them so we do not have to circumvent your will and take time and energy from us both to get answers out of you. First, who are you and who do you work for?" The small child spoke.

"You can go to hell, maggot." Diamonds snarled and spat in his face. "Clubs-sama is my leader. I am Queen of Diamonds." Making no move to escape, Diamonds turned her head away from his interrogator and ignored him further. After all, in her mind, who she was and who Clubs-sama was were the only two answers she'd give.

"For others, the dragon would suffice to bring you around to answer through humiliation. But his wants would not be so for you. I hope to do this peaceably, will you comply?"

It was Auron's habit to always ask at least twice. He scooted up closer to her, placing his hands on her cheeks and turning her head so that she looked into his eyes. She would be met with the same probing sensation that rice had been hit with. That a curious presence was crawling along her skin, but with her it began to get deeper, and she would hear a slight buzzing noise in the back of her mind as though somebody was whispering incoherently. Before her eyes, if they were open, the child's skin and appearance would begin to change. His hands slowly took on her features, they were slowly growing until they reached her size and his skin matched hers. Meanwhile, the women could feel her hands shrinking and her skin slowly changing to that of a small child's.

"Are you sure you will not comply? It does not have to be this way."

"You shinobi are maggots. Harboring a murderer in your midst." Diamonds spat out with contempt. "Just hand him over and we'll leave."

Sitting on the cold, night sand, Diamonds pale green eyes shifted into Auron's gaze as he forced her to look at him. "Plain and simple: even a child can understand. Give us the murdering baldy and we'll leave."

"You say that as though you haven't murdered anything yourself. I…can see it now, though you may not have killed directly, I don't have access to most of your memories yet, you have led to death." The child smiled, his teeth changing until the smile was a mirror image of Diamonds'. He paused for a moment though, as the information she was divulging was given in a round-about way. The strange transformation that was coming over the bound woman came to a halt as well.

"I assume you are talking about the one known as Shozaku. I would gladly hand him over if it would keep Konoha lives safe, but he is an ally. So I cannot. Who was the other person you were working with, the scaled one?"

"EEEIII! What the hell are you doing to me!" Diamonds shrieked in surprise. "Brat maggot. Let me go!" She stared in horror at her reflection, mildly curious on how the kid managed to suck her looks up. "The scaled one is a guide showing Clubs-sama the way around this sandy hellhole." A Partial truth here; as Jin-Quar had shown them around the Wind Country.

"Ah. And well, at the moment it is not important that you know the full effects of this jutsu...And what is your involvement with the Konoha ninja? I know you are also after Shozaku, but there seems to be another. Who?" He asked simply. Behind him, the draconic Auron rocked back and forth on its heels, just waiting until they were done with her.

"Who? We're after you, that's who!" Diamonds laughed sharply as her wrist and knee bonds were severed with her razor sharp chakra. Leaning forward, she lunged at the shoulder she had placed her hand on earlier.

Her limbs had no chakra circulating as she aimed her head at the kid's shoulder. All she needed to do was make contact and it would be enough to trigger the medical disable bomb she had placed minutes before.

"That old hag will die too, and she won't know a thing!" Diamonds spoke about Jino; whom was currently forging an alliance with the Hokage. Danzo had yet to become privy to the information of the Dragon Ninjas in town.

He just rolled backward on the balls of his feet, and the draconic one stepped forward and grabbed both sides of her head. He just smiled. "How about now? Can I have my fun?"

"It seems that they have revealed their intentions, though we are not sure if this one is privy to the plans. You will be synced with us soon enough that these things will not need to be spoken out loud." The child sighed, getting up and shrugging. "There is no time for fun, we must come together and bring the prisoner to the Konoha authorities here in Suna."

"Oh…come ooooonnnn…" The draconic said, almost roaring his challenge, his lewdly displayed erection aimed at Diamonds' face. The child walked around, out of her sight.

"There is but a minute or two until the remerging, there is not time for you to force yourself on some women who has shown herself an enemy."

Diamonds smiled wickedly at Dracon Auron and then lifted her chin and splayed her fingers out.

"Sayonara, maggots!" With a sharp snap, Diamonds' body fell limp as her life force was paused.

A moment later, the normal Auron sighed and picked up the comatose women. Either way, the Konoha would figure out what to do with her now. He wasn't the type that extracted secrets from dead bodies, so just made his way towards the building for now.

XXX

Within the dark-lighting paths of Sunagakure, Hearts had overwhelmed an unfortunate genin that was out past curfew. Killing the genin girl; Hearts had switched cloths and now was wearing tan, black and rust-colored gear – tan shirt, black pants and rust-colored boots, arm-braces and scarf. She left her brightly-colored kimono in ashes as she had burned both the dead body and blood. Rice had watched all this in monotony and directed Hearts towards the Konoha building.

"Clubs-sama said to find the girl and transport her to the cave, ok dragon?" Being young and still maturing, her body followed the dragon to the target.

"Excuse me little girl, are you lost?" A seemingly anonymous ninja spoke towards Hearts, looking down at her. He wore a pair of sunglasses, and didn't have a headband to say which village he was from.

"Nope, not at all, mister. Just looking for a friend…" Hearts had whipped Rice into her almost empty kunai pack and held the untarnished kunai deep within her tan sleeve.

Depending on whether or not this ninja would sound the alarm; Hearts could throw the kunai and kill the ninja. It mattered most to her to get to her target with little or no trouble. From there Hearts would allow the dragon to transport the target to Clubs-sama which would signal him to summon her and Diamonds back to the base. So until the ninja did anything to warrant his death, Hearts stood there.

"Just avoiding curfew and getting home." She added as an afterthought.

"I'll help you find him." The ninja said, turning to walk alongside her. He reached out a hand and gave her a comforting pat on the back/ruffled her hair. "After all, home is where the hearts lie."

"Fine then, take me to the Konoha hotel, I wanna be there now!" Patience not being her strong suit, Hearts grinned up at the man and mentally wished she still had her kimono on so she could flash some chest to distract him. "After that you can leave me the hell alone."

"Haha; if that's where your friend lives. But you don't look like a Konoha resident in the slightest." The man chuckled, leading her in that direction. "You have a very nice smile." The tone with which he said that made it hard to guess whether he was an elder man complimenting her, or a younger one hitting on her.

"You know, you're rather nosey for an old man, bastard. Can't Suna and Konoha have friends with each other?" Hearts just now wondered were Rice had gone off too. The small white Dragon had its order to capture either Shozaku or the girl and meet them back in the cave that Clubs had set up base. "It's not often that a kunoichi gets to talk to an outer villager friend, right?"

XXX

Rice had watched silently as Kakashi left the room; and exhaled a breath that would all but mix with the nearly invisible mist that came every sandy morning – the condensation of fast-chilled sun-hot desert sand. The dragon directed into the room and aimed at Yukari's sleeping form.

Jin-Quar had made her listen to Clubs and Hearts for orders. Clubs had wanted Rice to either kill the Gambler or capture a weak point – the black-haired girl Clubs had vividly described. Rice was then to leave a calling card – a King of Clubs – behind and kidnap the girl, fleeing the scene. The card would explode if touched.

Rice made no sound as it exhaled its mist – the consequences of being caught were terrible. Jin-Quar would hurt Rice if the dragon screwed up. Now, all that was left to do was wait for Hearts' signal.

Shozaku blinked, noticing the dragon enter into the room. He calmly rolled a pair of dice across the floor, under the beds, that were weighted enough to shove the door closed.

Rice would feel something poking the side of her head, followed by. " 'ey there sexeh serpent thang, wha'choo doin with my bos' property? yous wouldn't be thinkin ah takin 'er woodja?" Spades said, poking Rice in the side of the head with a mini-sai as he spoke.

Turning its head, Rice looked at Spades with pure shock. "You are the one massster wantsss!" The dragon snarled and exhaled a plume of smoke. "Masssster will be pleasssseed and ignore me for a while!"

Rice turned her attention fully on Spades and lunged at him.

XXX

"How can Hearts have a heart so misguided. Your mouth…so good but so unrefined. Well, here's the building. If you can manage to fool over a man that's spent his whole life in trick after trick, good for you, but…Heart to heart, you should find a better master." The man said, fading from view as he rounded a corner. She was in front of the Konoha building as it was.

Hearts frowned in confusion as the old man called her by name. He wasn't the gambler, so…just who was he? Shaking her head to clear it, she gazed upward at the small plume of fire and loaded her legs with chakra to jump up. She jumped and made her way over the small outcropping to the open window that gave way to the room Kakashi and Shozaku were using.

"Heys you, bastard gambler, come get me!" Hearts leaned in the window and threw a heart-shaped rock at Shozaku. "I bet you can't catch me, you maggot-ridden ass-munch."

Glancing briefly at Spades, Hearts froze in shock. "Piss you, you faggot dice-lover! He's ours!" The red-headed girl grabbed Spades in her hand and turned heel, fleeing across the roof tops.

Shozaku ducked his head to dodge the rock and leaned out the window, "What do you want to bet? It'd better be good for me to stop what I'm doing and chase a cheap imitation across a town I don't know too well." He wasn't worried about Spades getting captured; there was a relatively easy way out of that.

Spades threw a sai with a string attached to the top of Hearts' pants, then yanked. He was mostly trying to mess her up, cause a little bit of mischief, or embarrass her. "So's you the one gun try 'n replace Ace O' Hearts? Yo sho is bit of a youngin for that."

"Oh yea, well, a kunoichi's best asset is her brain, your boss just lost his prize." Hearts giggled to herself as she tripped and fell on her face. "Damn it!" She let go of Spades and withdrew an Ace of Hearts Card; slapping it on him. "Go say hi to that damn Gambler! Tell 'em Clubs' got the girls!"

With that, the Ace of Hearts Card began glowing, proceeding the sign of a timed paper bomb. Hearts rolled off the ledge as the card's whine increased in pitch.

Spades just giggled a little and then Hearts would find one of his Sai just stuck in her side. Not deeply so, not even painfully, but it stuck to her. She would feel a strange cooling sensation in various streaks all over her body, as if a message was being written on her skin. On the parts that were revealed she might even see some lettering appear. Spades seemed to be growing just a little before the explosion as he spoke.

"I thank yeh most kihndly little Hahts. 'twas it not fer yer efforts, he may never have brought out the Ace and the Jack. When you meet him, the real king…submit. Submit, for there is nothing else. Submit, or there is only death…" With that, Spades seemingly did nothing to stop himself from getting blown right the hell up. There were no pieces though, so it would be hard to confirm whether or not he'd escaped.

XXX

Behind Shozaku, and the moment he turned his face away from the sleeping Yukari, Rice's exhaled mist whirled and engulfed the sleeping kunoichi. The distraction offered by Hearts gave Rice's jutsu time enough to spirit the heiress away into the Eye of the Dragon. When Hearts had thrown the rock, Rice had flown away; the mist teleporting into the dragon's eye.

"…" Rice then felt the pressing urge to flight straight to Jin-Quar and Clubs. As Hearts offered more of a distraction, the dragon was gone.

Shozaku's eyes turned a little dark and he took a deep breath. He then leaned back out of the window, chakra gathering within his stomach and traveling upwards along his throat; more specifically; his vocal chords. He was not only angry and pissed off, but quite murderous; the way his body and mind were at the moment. After quickly building a good amount of chakra, he released a loud shout across the entire of the Suna desert outside the village. Hopefully, it reached the one whose name he shouted.

"CLUUUUUUUUUUBS, TIME TO COME OOOOOOOUT NOOOOWWWWWW." As his voice died down, however far away he was; Clubs vision would momentarily fade as he saw something else, another place, entirely. What he'd see would be himself at a gambling table, with what looked like a normal game of poker. Although the only person sitting across from him was a ninja that looked a little like himself. The only difference was, this one had sickeningly long arms, at the end of which he held two large Clubs. Tattooed all over his body was the Clubs symbol, and even his head was overly blocky as though it could be used as a battering ram. The figure was only staring at him, his eyes speaking murder, as he mouthed the words 'thank you', before the vision released and Clubs' vision would return to normal.

XXX

Yukari felt the floating sensation right before she woke up; and she knew she was in trouble. Opening her red eyes she viewed the world through tainted green crystal. In an instant, she was on her feet; cringing at the soreness of her stomach, legs, hips and mouth. Making a grab for a missing kunai pack; she noted the raucous laughter that came from without her crystal prison.

"Damn, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" A sibilant voice hissed at her. "By the way, babe, you've got one tasty hot body for a ninja."

"Bugger off, idiot." Yukari hastened to retort. "Let me out of here and I'll let you live."

"And she has a sense of humor, eh Clubs?" The same hissing voice traveled up her spine.

Yukari turned around finally and saw her assailants: six male shinobi; one female kunoichi and one reptile unrecognized. The two that stood out were the front most two. The ninja on her left, his arm hanging off the girl wearing a Suna chuunin uniform, was facially the same as her Gambler – Shozaku – only several shades paler. A black, foot tall shock of hair stood on an otherwise bald head. His eyes, holding a far deeper lecherous glare stared at her with hatred mixed in. His body stance showed him to be an active ninja; muscles coiled under the thinnest layer of fat. The clothes he wore reminded Yukari oddly again, of Shozaku: an off-white, elbow-length shirt with blue armor, the neck unbuttoned and a flap folded back. The belt around his waist held a three orb-ed symbol with a tail, and black-blue ninja-stretch pants that was common for most world-wide ninja. Close toed boots covered his feet and layer of rubber sat on the lower legs that weren't covered by the pants.

"Jin-Quar-san, she be awake, I'll be taking her now." The man grinned predatorily at her. Yukari just stood there, as she realized wore nothing but a white shirt. The girl, red of hair and same height as herself, Yukari noted, was standing here grinning at her.

"Who the hell are you?" Yukari screamed and pounded a fist against the sickly green crystal wall. "Are you idiots, let me go!"

"Aye, I'd do that Ona-san, but then, you'd be raped thrice over." The being next to the mohawked man – a man whose eyes that stared out from above eye tattoos depicting the card suit Clubs – drew her attention. Yukari gasped as she noted the vast differences of the speaker. Being two heads taller than 'Clubs', the brown-skinned ninja drew himself up to his full height as the scaled man closed the distance between them. Suddenly, Yukari felt glad there was a crystal barrier that separated her and them.

"I'm Jin-Quar, the Ryuukage from a far distant village. My companion is Clubs, and the girl; Hearts. The four ninja behind us: two of mine and two of Clubs' ninjas; are all quite powerful." The scale-faced man leaned over and leered at her. "This of course, is Rice, the one who brought you here."

The white reptile now revealed itself as a small dragon! Pumping its leathery bat wings, it lifted itself onto the brown and green-scaled arm of Jin-Quar.

"For what reason!" Yukari stuttered out.

"For revenge, what else!" The scales of his face moved as Jin-Quar leaned back out to give a hearty laugh.

XXX

Below, Shozaku saw Auron walking up to the Konoha building with a ninja on his shoulder that he recognized. Shozaku didn't leap out, so much as roll out of the building, all the while doing a few hand-signs as he spoke:

"Blood of mine, juice for thine, stretch thy will across space and time, there will be no sacrifice, there is but one token so they will not smoke her, with touch of evil comes laugh of the Joker."

Yukari might have felt a little bit of heat, mostly coming from her crotch where Shozaku had last been with her. If she had chanced a look down, a jester's hat symbol would appear on her stomach. Outside of that, nothing changed externally.

Shozaku landed in front of Auron, looking at Diamonds, and spoke.

"Let us go inside while I wait for some old associates to arrive, you can fill me in on how that came into your possession and given that I know her usual guard, she must not have been the easiest to capture. You may be able to help out. This way please."

He said as he walked inside the Konoha building, where Auron was now heading, as he originally had planned, with a raised eyebrow and both a worried and bemused look on his face.

XXX

Barokendo looked up from his post outside Usagi's door, gave a wry smile and said.

"Finally…maybe I can get him to fight me one on one this time…"


End file.
